Let's help Wayne win a new Wheelchair Accessible Van!

Please vote for my friend Wayne!!

(Vote once a day until May 10!!) 

See that good looking fellow right over there, flanked by his two mini Notre Dame/Cubs fans? That guy right there is a very special guy...his name is Wayne and I have known him my entire life through my home church in Packerton, Indiana. (Don't bother Googling it, I doubt it's on the map.) He's a lay minister, a teacher, a coach, a wonderful friend....wait, that's wrong...the word wonderful can't even begin to describe my friend Wayne. He's been such a positive influence on my life. That guy right there is truly a living model of a positive Christian outlook on life. When he was 33 and I was 18 he fell from a room and became paraplegic. In the past 19 years he's been in a wheelchair and driven a car with hand controls but the years of disassembling and reassembing his wheelchair every morning and night is tough on him and so his wife, Beth, entered him in a contest to win a new wheelchair accessible van. I've never heard him complain. Sure, I can tell when he's been having bad days but he's NEVER held any pity party for himself. Wayne may not be a hero in the traditional sense but everyday he's a HERO to those two fabulous sons of his and to everyone else he comes into contact with. 

Take a minute and read Wayne and Beth's story below. 

Please vote for my friend Wayne!! (Vote once a day until May 10!!) 

Wayne Landis fell 18 feet from the eave of a church roof, while roofing, June 17, 1994 at 33 years of age. He became a paraplegic instantly. He and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary July 7th, 1994 at RHI in Indianapolis. Wayne looked at me and said, “I don’t suppose you will want me now,” to which I very intently responded, “I married you for better or for worse, I am not leaving you!” He never made a comment like that again. Our marriage is like peanut butter and jelly, each one of us is good separately, but put together we are something.

We returned home the weekend before school began in August of 1994, and I began teaching that Monday. This is currently my 22nd year of being a full time teacher. Wayne returned to his seventh and eighth grade students teaching Pre-Algebra and Algebra October of 1994. He resumed teaching full time November of 1994 and has continued teaching full-time for a total of 27 years.

Wayne is president of the Tippecanoe Valley Teacher’s Association and an Indiana State Teacher’s Representative. He is a man who wears many hats. He continued coaching girl’s softball for two years after his injury. He announces Tippecanoe Valley basketball and baseball games. He plays keyboard at our church, prepares the church bulletin, is financial secretary, and a trustee as well. May 2003 we became the parents of Zach, 17 months, and Jeremy, 6 1/2 months. He is a fantastic father, husband, teacher, and friend. He transports the boys to their school, sports activities, and other occasions.
When traveling as a family, I disassemble his chair and place it in the trunk of his car. All of the other times, Wayne disassembles it himself, lifting it in and across his body to the passenger side several times a day whether it is raining, snowing, or sunny.

He has been driving a Monte Carlo for the past 19 plus years with hand controls only. It would be a blessing for us as we have persevered for 19 years to have a modified van. It is becoming more difficult for Wayne to disassemble and assemble his chair as he is getting older and his body is showing the strain from lifting and transferring. A modified van would allow Wayne to remain mobile and bear the inclement weather easier.

Please vote for my friend Wayne!! (Vote once a day until May 10!!) 

Could you help my friend Wayne win a wheelchair accessible van?? I wish everyone could meet Wayne and be touched with by his positive spirit. He helps everyone around him and I just think it's time that someone helped out Wayne. Thanks sooo much (in advance for helping out!)