At age 84, Des La Rance–former cabinet maker, “dreamer” and devoted, life-long Rotarian–is the picture of health. His recycling business evolved into an important social network that helps people in crisis. He runs a business from a shed in Arundel on the Gold Coast. Through a talented cadre of 30 volunteers, they take these unwanted bicycles and convert them into rugged, all-terrain wheelchairs. Their collective impact “is around 10,000 mobility solutions placed in the community while solving the environmental catastrophe of bike litter.
La Rance’s journey began in 1996 during a trip to Fiji, where he witnessed the struggles of disabled children lacking access to proper mobility aids. Moved by their suffering, he started a relief organization. Over the almost three decades since, it has repurposed more than 40,000 unwanted bike frames into almost 12,000 wheelchairs. His workshop currently has the capacity to produce about 400 wheelchairs per year and he plans to double that to 800 next year.
Bicycle waste is a tremendously important topic. Internationally, La Rance estimates that at least 300,000 bicycles are thrown away annually, with a majority ending up in landfills. He stated, “The bicycles come in, they get cut up and machined to what we want, and then they’re all passed down through the line for spray painting and finishing.” One positive impact of this hands-on approach is that it repurposes waste and produces life-changing equipment for people in need.
La Rance’s efforts have received international attention, with a marked interest in the model coming from areas hit hard by natural disasters. His small team (of just 6!) are in the process of sending their first shipment of 121 wide-tyre wheelchairs to Sri Lanka. This collaborative effort will expand transportation access for some of the country’s most impacted communities by recent flooding disasters. His commitment doesn’t stop there, as he is active in communities in Samoa and Fiji where he continues to provide wheelchairs.
“We just keep the containers rolling out. We’ve got people all over the world wanting these wheelchairs, so we’re never going to fulfill the requests that are out there.” – Des La Rance
Perhaps the most vivid example for La Rance was a 14-year-old girl. It was so debilitating that she needed to walk on all fours due to the severity of her disability. Upon receiving her new wheelchair, she expressed her excitement with a heartfelt statement: “I am going to town. I’ve never been to town.” These are the memories that make the work immeasurably worthwhile, reminding us how transformative the power of mobility can be.
Valluvan Thillairajah, a recipient of one of the wheelchairs, echoed this sentiment: “These rough terrain wheelchairs are really useful for us.” The importance of La Rance’s craft goes further than personal gift-giving impacts—though those are certainly important—creating family bonding and community inclusion as well. He explained, “If you give a child a wheelchair, friends or family can wheel them to wherever they want to go. And it brings families back together again.”
Outside of St. Malo, La Rance has almost 30 years of experience in production of the hand crank wheelchairs. Despite all that he’s accomplished, he remains down-to-earth and fiercely committed to his mission. It was something I never dreamed would have happened,” he said of the size of his operation. His workshop has become a lighthouse of hope to a lot of people. It shows that often-overlooked formerly used materials can be repurposed into irreplaceable infrastructure.
La Rance’s transformative, bottom-up approach is what makes his organization so unique. He remarked, “Nobody I know of is making wheelchairs from bicycles. There are other people making wheelchairs, but not the way we do ours.” His distinctive approach to the work is helping to solve issues in mobility and advance sustainability in a very meaningful way.
“Oh, the reward when you hand a child a wheelchair, it just takes my breath away.” – Des La Rance
Even as La Rance stays at the forefront of this effort, he’s still looking to make his operation better and larger. He’s got big plans for next year. With his tireless commitment, he lives out the very definition of community servant by uplifting and enriching the lives of the most vulnerable.
