Media: Tradeshow Expo (7/08)
Global Awareness
Odyssey Team’s Helping Hands Program Brings Free Prosthetics to Developing Countries
Participants build them to inspire teamwork and service to others
CHICO, Calif. — Using your hands is automatic, like blinking or breathing. Right now, as you read, you're probably holding this page or holding a mouse while scrolling down without thinking about what you're doing. But in developing countries, for tens of thousands of youth and adults with amputated hands — something often caused by landmine explosions or political violence — simple manual activities can require continual planning and effort. This situation inspired Odyssey Teams, a recognized innovator and leader in the team-building industry, to create Helping
Hands.
Click this link for a video about the Helping Hands Program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpfeWpy0l2A
The program challenges participants — typically from Fortune 500 corporations, various business arenas and nationally recognized Universities — to assemble artificial hands for later donation overseas. The Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation, which oversees the donations, recently gave Odyssey Teams exclusive permission to use the hands for organizational training purposes. Participants in Helping Hands learn teamwork by confronting, discussing and puzzling over their challenging and/or engaging assignment. As participants realize what they're building, a profound sense of responsibility emerges — an amputee, after all, is going to use this hand — and they understand that what they do professionally and personally can resonate with their customers, their communities and beyond. "This new program is part of the evolution of our philanthropic training programs," said Lain Hensley, COO and co-founder of Odyssey Teams. "Connecting people to the purpose of their company by using profound experiences is what has propelled Odyssey Teams to the top of our industry. Our Life Cycles program connects people to local youth, the Helping Hands(tm) program has global impact and life changing results." Helping Hands follows in the footsteps of Life Cycles, the groundbreaking program Odyssey Teams introduced in 2001 in which teams assemble bikes for needy children. Since then, bike-related initiatives have become common in the team-building industry.
How they work
The origins of Helping Hands lie with Ernie Meadows, an industrial engineer, and his wife Marj, a California couple whose daughter Ellen died in a car accident. In her
memory, her parents created the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation (http://ln-4.org). Ernie Meadows designed the LN-4, a basic but highly functional prosthetic hand, for the foundation. The plastic hands are composed of moving and nonmoving high-grip digits controlled by a spring-loaded mechanism. The hands are strapped on, not surgically
attached, and can be easily mastered so that recipients are quickly undertaking the tasks of daily living — sipping a beverage, tying a shoelace, holding pen or a computer
mouse. The hands are free to recipients thanks to donated materials from suppliers; manufacturing at no profit by Stack Plastics of Menlo Park, Calif; donations from Rotary International chapters; and assembly of parts by participants in Odyssey Team's Helping Hands program.
Odyssey Teams, founded in 1991, is a recognized pioneer in team building and leadership skills development. Odyssey Teams created the renowned Life Cycles program in which participants renew their commitments to their organizations and communities while building free bikes for deserving children. In the past eight years, more than 10,000 bikes have been provided worldwide. Odyssey Teams remains at the forefront of philanthropic team building with a new program in which participants create prosthetic hands for amputees. Odyssey Team's blue-chip clients have included Wells Fargo, Abbott
Laboratories and eBay. For more information on how Odyssey Teams can help "build"
individuals and teams, visit www.Odysseyteams.com or telephone Jonathan Willen at 530- 342-3445.