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What began as a plea for the return of a wheelchair stolen from a Waikiki street performer has turned into some 40 offers to donate one to the Kalihi man.
Magician Raymond Sonnie Tavita, 23, who suffers from spina bifida, wept with happiness Wednesday upon receiving two of the wheelchairs — one donated by owners of Aloha Kia and
The Cab, and an electric
one from Waianae resident Yvonne Whitehead.
“I am truly blessed,” Tavita told the news media during a gathering at state Rep. John Mizuno’s office. “When my wheelchair was stolen, I was devastated. … These wheelchairs open up my life again.”
He said he had become a shut-in and hadn’t performed as a magician since the theft of the wheelchair from his apartment’s laundry room on July 25.
Mizuno, who held a news conference Monday to ask for the return of the wheelchair, said he hadn’t expected the outpouring of donation offers from the public.
He said if given approval by the state Board of Ethics, he and state Rep. Matt
LoPresti would create a clearinghouse to give the surplus wheelchair donations to others who need one but can’t afford it.
Mizuno said the wheelchair donations wouldn’t have happened without Tavita, also known by his stage name, “Poly Houdini.”
“This is what you created. … It’s a lot of love,” Mizuno said.
After Tavita’s wheelchair was stolen from his family’s apartment complex on
McNeill Street in Kalihi, he was limited to getting around with crutches and was unable to get himself
to Waikiki.
The Cab owner Howard Higa said he read the story in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser this week and said to himself, “This is not going to happen in paradise.” Higa called Mizuno and found out that Aloha Kia owner Bill van den Hurk had also called to offer financial assistance.
Van den Hurk said he watched a TV newscast and was touched when he saw Tavita struggling to walk with his crutches.
The wheelchair donated by Higa and Hurk had a retail price of $3,000.
The electric-powered chair has a price of about $3,600 and was donated by Waianae resident Whitehead, who is confined to a bed and no longer uses it, Mizuno said.
Tavita, who spoke by phone with Whitehead, expressed his gratitude.
“Oh, my pleasure,”
Whitehead said. “God
always knows what people need. … Enjoy it, Raymond, and God bless.”
Tavita’s mother, Cece Pita, who has 12 children and works at two jobs, said she didn’t know what to do when she posted the loss of her son’s wheelchair on Facebook.
She said Mizuno, who is a friend, responded and asked, “What can I do?”
Pita said that since Monday, she has received offers of donations from friends and relatives in Honolulu as well as in Oakland, Calif.
Officials from Shriners Hospital, which provided the surgery to stabilize Tavita’s condition when he was younger, were at the news conference Wednesday.
“It’s good to see the community come together to solve this problem,” said Mark Leo, who sits on the Board of Governors for Shriners Hospital in Hawaii.
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