INSIDER news February 2020

In this INSIDER:
Reuters publishes worldwide
Our distributors, a profile
The 100th campaign
Alinker Family Farm update

In the next INSIDER:
Tell us what you like to read
What are your experiences
Do you want to share here?
Trees and carbon neutral

Reuters, MIRROR, CBS, and so it spreads....

click to see video

Reuters sent a journalist to interview Alinker user Lindsey in the USA and another to BE during her visit at the factory in Taiwan. A few notes on what was communicated in the articles that were picked up all over the world. Language is so important and you can say what you want during an interview, a journalist will use the language that they use. For example: We do not talk about "disabled people" as is the title of the article, we rather talk about people who identify with being active, yet have mobility challenges, live with the symptoms of a disease, have adaptive bodies, etc. Lindsey was portrait differently than what she said, the journalist wanted to portrait a story of a poor woman who had a stroke, then got "helped" by a movie star. Fact is that Selma reached out to Lindsey because she was so powerful in how she was real about her situation after stroke, and it inspired Selma to come out and be real with her MS as well. Good to know the story behind the stories? Fact is, these articles reached all over the world.

click to see article and video

Our distributors, a profile

This section in the newsletter is going to introduce you to our staff and distributors around the world. Why? Because they are people like you. They are Alinker users, people who understand what life is like before they found the Alinker, and live life with an Alinker.

Meet Marése from South Africa, our new distributor.

My name is Marése du Preez, an MSWarrior. I’m wife to a wonderful and supportive husband – my absolute rock. A mother to two amazing, resilient and strong toddlers who are becoming my own little superheroes! And for the past six months I have been an Alinker user.

I was diagnosed in January 2019 and as an Occupational Therapist I was devastated when all of a sudden I was on the other side of the therapy model. I had to relearn how to do the tasks I so easily taught to other people and felt vulnerable, alone and so scared. Being an active person, previously running marathons and spending a lot of time outdoors, the inability to walk independently and not being able to exercise broke me.
As a family we spent our time being outside, being active and being together. Our whole family dynamics changed.
MS took away who I once was and who I thought I will be.

While lying in my hospital bed I woke up the one morning and read all the amazing articles about Selma Blair with her cape dress and cane at the Oscars in 2019.
I sat upright, cried a lot and then lifted my head up high. I spoke to my therapy team that day and ordered my funky floral cane. If this is the life I need to live let’s at least own it! And that’s when I started to follow Selma on Instagram and for the first time saw a picture of the Alinker bike.

I saw the picture and I immediately wanted one. How? Living in South Africa made this challenging, but by making use of creative ways we were able to get one via London. Since the first day I sat on that seat I was hooked on this product and I knew we would have to find a way to get this to more people in South Africa. If this bright yellow gadget can become my new best friend how many more people would benefit from it?

The Alinker is functional, it provides you with independence, it's funky, it's at eye level and it change lives. It did not only change my life, but it has made a big impact on our family life. I am doing some exercise, we go shopping while I cruise through the aisles myself, and I can be outside with my family and be part of activities again. Although life is different now, I can at least still participate and feel more able and less DISable!!

Life is certainly not easy, some days are definitely harder than others and the uncertainty that goes along with this horrible disease and the future is far from over. But having support from family, friends and my Alinker definitely makes it easier.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It is about learning how to dance in the rain”

The Alinker Family Farm in Kentucky

Since late 2019, the Alinker Family has a farm. Brandon and Emily are the hosts, Alinker users and employees. Since they have moved to the farm late 2019 a few more people live with them, and together we build a community of care. Follow @Stringfellow_deeds on IG to read more and here we'll share some updates too.

From one of Brandon's posts: "The mess we are cleaning up is not our own but what comes after will forever be apart of us. The Alinker Family Farm is getting closer to a clean slate everyday. The way we are doing this is what is best for the environment.. we have been told several times to just burn the structures but there is so much usable material and as a house fire rages, it transforms and destroys everything in its path. Things inside your home that you'd never consider safe to burn – plastics, insulation, carpet, rubber, paints, solvents, pesticides, glue – release pollutants like PCBs, mercury, lead and dioxins as acrid smoke fills the air and ashy particles rain down everywhere. That is not what is best for the wellness of ALL..
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It’s not just the food you eat, or the amount of exercise you get... every decision we make affects ALL. In everything we do in life we will first step back and see the impact that action may have. True health is in the life you live."

106 campaigns completed!

Selma and BE surprised Stephanie on a live Instagram call to congratulate her with being the 100th person to complete her campaign! Since then another 6 completed. 106 campaigns complete, 106 people who could never afford an Alinker, now have their agency back.
People need your support, so click here and go to one of the individual campaigns to share your love, or click here to make a donation to the collective campaign that has started people off with $1000 for their campaigns when they launched.

Support a campaign - Change a life

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"The Alinker is a game changer!"

- Selma Blair

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