Weekend Group shows love for class member through wheelchair purchase
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Dick Benz calls his new wheelchair his Mercedes Benz—a play off his own last name.
Friends in his Two by Two Weekend Group at Southeast’s Blankenbaker Campus, who purchased the chair for him, tease that it’s more like a Rolls Royce.
He does not take the chair for granted.
Dick’s wife, Karen, said it is a gift they can never repay.
The motorized wheelchair with touch controls on the arm and a tilt-back seat is Dick’s ticket to ride through hallways at church and Hillcreek Manor Rehabilitation and
Nursing Facility, where he has lived since breaking a hip seven years ago.
Passing the hat
When doctors said Dick needed a new chair to ease pressure sores and a weak core, it became clear a new chair was not a luxury. It was a vital need if he was going
to get out of bed each day.
But the price tag of $7,000 put it far beyond anything the couple could afford since it wasn’t covered by insurance.
Friends at Southeast heard about the problem.
The Benzes have been attending the Two by Two Weekend Group for some 30 years.
They visited the church after realizing they weren’t getting much out of the sermons at the church they had been attending. They visited for nine years before taking the
leap to become members.
“We never make rash decisions,” Karen quipped.
It is a life decision that has had a huge impact.
People in that weekend group became close as family. They have watched as Dick struggle with one health crisis after another since being diagnosed with Multiple
Sclerosis in 1991.
When the group talked of passing the hat to offset the cost of the chair, one voice in the crowd urged them not to wait another week, so they passed the hat that day.
The grand total exceeded $7,000—all the Benzes needed to buy the chair with a little left over to create a slush fund for repairs.
Karen was overwhelmed.
“There are no words to thank them for this,” she said.
Dick Snider, who teaches the weekend group, explained why class members were adamant on taking up the offering.
“Small groups become family,” he said. “When someone hurts, we all hurt.”
He said there is no mistaking the Benzes' faith.
When Southeast was located on Hikes Lane, Dick Snider spotted Dick Benz driving his scooter along the sidewalk toward church one blustery winter day. Many
people had stayed home that day, but Dick Benz put on his hat and coat and started motoring in his chair an hour before church because Karen, who works full time at
T.J. Maxx, was working that day.
“Snow had collected on his head, and he was soaking wet when he wheeled himself into class, but he never complained,” Snider said. “I decided never to complain again.”
Dick Benz rarely misses a weekend service or a Wednesday night with the couple’s small group, which meets in the Benzes’ home.
Pressing on through MS
Dick Benz’s life is challenging.
Living in a nursing home never crossed his mind back in the 1980s, when he was playing softball, volleyball and running in mini-marathons. MS moved in like a thief,
robbing him of mobility and his ability to design sprinkler systems for a living.
The power chair gives him some measure of independence. For a while, he leaned on a cane, then steadied himself with a walker.
When his MS worsened, he rode in a scooter, then a power chair. His new chair takes pressure off his spine and allows him to sit up.
Dick Benz now passes time at the nursing home by cutting out articles in the Outlook newspaper and mailing them to different people. Karen keeps him stocked in
stamps.
“God has been so good to us,” Karen said. “We are on a tough journey, but He’s cared for us in amazing ways.”