SMD Wheelchair Services Capital Campaign poster image                  SMD Wheelchair Services Capital Campaign Thermometer

    

SMD Foundation Kicks-Off $1 Million Capital Campaign

DONATE TODAY!

In Manitoba, there are approximately 200,000 persons with disabilities. One in every six Manitobans has a disability and that number is growing.

 

For over 30 years SMD has provided, maintained, and refurbished both manual and electric wheelchairs for thousands of people with disabilities across the province. 

 

SMD currently operates its wheelchair program out of its warehouse facility located at 1111 Winnipeg Avenue.  This same location is also used to administer the Parking Permit Program to over 43,000 Manitobans with disabilities.

 

After many years in operation, numerous building repairs and makeshift renovations, 1111 Winnipeg Avenue is beginning to compromise the effectiveness of SMD’s Wheelchair Service Program.

SMD Wheelchair Services - Current Building - 1111 Winnipeg Ave


SMD Wheelchair Services - outside of old building    SMD Wheelchair Services - parts & repairs area - old building        SMD Wheelchair Services - old building parts area

 

Thanks to a significant review by the SMD, it was decided that the building's limitations, including its square footage and layout, and necessary repairs were too numerous to consider renovating and retrofitting the current facility. Instead, a lease on an alternative location was approved and a campaign was launched to renovate and retrofit a new public office and work space.

SMD Wheelchair Services - New Building - 1857 Notre Dame Ave

   

 SMD WCS building_wide view

 

Renovation of this new location, 1857 Notre Dame Avenue, will bring the facility into compliance with current accessibility standards and will facilitate effective service delivery by SMD’s Parking Permit Program and SMD Wheelchair Services to our province’s growing population of persons with disabilities.

SMD Wheelchair Services Capital Campaign - Case for Support

SMD Wheelchair Services Capital Campaign Current/New Location Photos

WHAT YOUR SUPPORT MEANS TO MANITOBANS WITH DISABILITIES

 

As the leading provider of programs and services to persons with disabilities across our province, SMD has a responsibility to strive to remove barriers within its own facilities wherever they exist, and to set and example for removing barriers and improving accessibility throughout the community at large. 

The existing facilities housing SMD Wheelchair Services and the Parking Permit Program are woefully inadequate to the demands being placed upon them.  For example, clients unfamiliar with the operation of power wheelchairs are forced to learn how to maneuver their chairs in a confined space amongst staff and volunteers.  This initial learning experience is critical to our clients’ long-term success in using their wheelchairs.  The limited space at our current location is detrimental to instruction and to conducting a proper assessment of client mobility aid requirements.

 

  • Your gift towards the SMD Wheelchair Campaign will facilitate renovations of a new and improved facility designed specifically to accommodate daily wheelchair assessments, fittings and repairs; and to provide suitable space for wheelchair users to learn how to maneuver new equipment.  
  • Your gift will have a direct impact on improving accessibility for a large community of Manitobans with disabilities by not only making SMD’s new facility accessible to thousands of clients, but also by enhancing SMD’s ability to enable greater mobility for clients in their day to day lives.  
  • Your gift to the SMD Wheelchair Campaign places emphasis on the inherent worth and dignity of each person as an individual and reminds all Manitobans with Disabilities that they have the capacity to contribute. 

Your gift empowers Manitobans with Disabilities to share their abilities with all of us.

DONATE TODAY!

For more information, please contact:

SMD Foundation Office
204-975-3111
foundation@smd.mb.ca