It started in Guatemala —

The concept of Wheels of Hope began in 1987, when a Christian missionary, Mark Richard, saw a Mayan woman crawling across the Pan American Highway in the pouring rain. He promised he would get her a wheelchair during his next trip to the United States. Three months later, Mark and his wife, Sandy, returned with over fifteen wheelchairs and wheelchair parts for Francisca and others with disabilities in Guatemala.

Over the course of the next five years, Mark established a wheelchair refurbishing center near Alliance, Ohio, and continued distributing wheelchairs in Guatemala and Mexico. In 1993, Mark joined with Joni and Friends to direct the newly formed program, Wheels for the World. Joni and Friends quickly expanded the scope of distribution from Latin America to Africa and Eastern Europe. In 1994, Mark moved the facility to its present location, 25,000 s.f. of donated warehouse space in Canton, Ohio. Then Mark left Ohio to establish a second Wheels for the World refurbishing center in Iowa, in conjunction with Hope Haven International Ministries (HHIM).

In January 1995, Joni and Friends hired a new Ohio Director for the Canton refurbishing center, Patrick Rimke. Patrick had volunteered for Mark since 1989. Growth in Ohio slowly continued until January of 1997, when Joni and Friends began a program to refurbish wheelchairs in U.S. prisons, and ended its financial commitment to the Ohio facility.

However, due to the overwhelming support of its volunteers and donors, the facility was reopened with JAF Ministries' approval in July 1997 as an independent organization under a new name: Wheels of Hope.

Wheels of Hope was incorporated as a tax-exempt non-profit in November 1997.

A physical therapist assesses the needs of a diabetic man during a wheelchair distribution sponsored by Hope Haven International Ministries, the Canton Rotary and Joni and Friends in November 1995.