About

How We Started!

Jacob was injured at 25 years old in a hunting accident December 24th, 2020. He had just finished his first ever duck hunt with his younger brother Peyton. On the way back to the truck they took a break. Peyton reached down to pick up something off the ground, and the gun he had across his back went off and shot Jacob through the side. Peyton was able to keep Jacob stable until medical first responders were able to find them in the woods. Dr. Guidry at Mcleod Hospital in Florence, SC was able to perform an emergency surgery to stabilize him.


The accident caused Jacob to lose his lower two ribs, his spleen, left kidney, and 13 units of blood. The shotgun pellets also caused a spinal cord injury (SCI) at the T11-L2 levels causing Jacob to be paralyzed from the waist down. After a month in the ICU, Jacob was transferred to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA unable to move his legs or walk. There he completed nearly 5 months of intensive inpatient rehab and learned how to walk short distances with arm crutches. While at the Shepherd Center, he was introduced to a trackchair, a tracked wheelchair allowing its user to go off road and on uneven terrain. After learning that the starting price for a base chair was nearly $15,000, Jacob didn't think he would ever have the opportunity to own one and have that freedom.


He came across one used for sale for $5,000 and knew he had to get it so he could continue to do the outdoor activities he loved. When he would use the chair and would transport it on the back of his truck, he would always be stopped by someone who would tell him about friends or family they knew who could use a similar chair. He knew many of the people who approached him would likely never have the chance to own one for themselves. The Lord placed a burden on his heart to start this non-profit to loan these chairs out to people with mobility challenges. Thus, Waymaker Off-road Wheelchairs was born!

What we do

We loan out our chairs FREE OF CHARGE to anyone with a mobility challenge. You don't have to be confined to a wheelchair to benefit from this program. Whether you broke your leg and just want to be able to stay active this summer, or are elderly and have trouble safely navigating uneven terrain, we still want YOU to be able to participate in this project! While we don't charge for using the chair, we need people who share the vision and see its incredible benefit to our city, county, and state to donate, so that we can keep everything (and everyone) rolling! We offer our chairs for pick up, but delivery can also be arranged. We have a hitch carrier as well as a small utility trailer that an be used to aid in transportation.

Why we do it

The short answer is because of our faith in Jesus Christ. That faith calls us to first love God with all our heart and accept his free gift of salvation, but then secondly to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are told to let our light shine so that others may see Him shining through us and come to put their faith in Jesus themselves. After becoming a paraplegic, Jake's life was completely flipped upside down. Although most could just cling to the negativity, Jake recognizes that God works all things together for his good. A freak hunting accident is hard to explain, but at the end of the day it has been such an incredible blessing that has let Jake empathize with and support others in similar situations. We are committed to using whatever circumstances God allows life to throw at us and utilizing them as best we can for HIS glory!


Please grab a Bible and look up Philippians 2:3-11

Faith

Faith is the cornerstone of our operation. God has blessed us so that we can be blessings to others. He offers us his free gift of salvation through his son Jesus Christ. If you don't know him as your personal Lord and Savior, you are missing out on a gift much better than a free trackchair to borrow! Feel free to ask us any questions as you feel led!

Compassion

This is a very personal business to Jake. Having gone through the process of having a traumatic accident that caused him to lose so much of his independence, he can relate first hand to how that feels and what that can be like. Our goal is to help as many people as possible if nothing more than just to see the smile on their faces!

Community

After seeing how so many people rallied around Jake in his time of need, it is one of the only ways we can even think of to try and repay our incredible community centered around Hartsville, SC! We strive to put our local area and community, as well as South Carolina in general, on the map as a gold standard for what accessibility can look like! 

Share by: