Ewing
W. Mays was a W.W.II veteran. While in Sicily, the jeep in which he was
riding was hit by a German mortar. Mays was thrown from his vehicle. He
awoke to find that both his legs were missing. In his opinion,
life
was over and no longer worth living. He had been scouted by the old
Cleveland
Browns to play pro football - this would never come to pass.
While Mays lay in a VA
hospital
in Temple, TX an
Army chaplain came to visit. Mays wanted to die. The chaplain told him
that maybe God did not want him to die, maybe he had other plans. He
urged
him to read the testament given to him by the Gideons before he went
overseas.
Mays began to read. He came upon Matthew 11: 28-29, which says "take my
yoke upon you and learn of me... for my yoke is easy and my burden is
light..."
Mays knew that the Lord has a purpose and turned his life over to Him.
After
numerous surgeries and much
rehabilitation,
Mays had learned to walk on artificial limbs. Something he realized,
though,
is the fact that no one with a similar disability came to visit him
while
he laid in the hospital.
Mays
decided to tour the country, visiting VA and rehabilitation hospitals.
He encouraged his fellow GI's to keep hope alive and never give up.
Many
times he would pick up a fellow amputee and carry him around the
hospital
ward and then reveal that all had been done on two artificial limbs.
They
were flabbergasted! Mays truly brought hope and inspiration to the
lives
he touched.
Upon hearing
of Mays' visits to these
hospitals, then
President Harry
S. Truman commissioned him to visit wounded GI's in both Korea and
Japan.
He became known as the "Pied Piper."
Mays became
involved with the Disabled
American Veterans (DAV). He was voted to be National Commander of
the
DAV in 1950, an honor of which he was so very proud.
Ewing
W. Mays
needed assistance
in his efforts to tour the country. He solicited donations through
direct
mail services. The idea came to him to hire people with disabilities to
do the printing, labeling, inserting and mailing, and data processing
thus
creating jobs for them. In 1972 he incorporated Mays Mission for the
Handicapped,
Inc. Today, Mays Mission is a charitable 501 (c) (3) organization. In
1982,
we moved to our current facility at 604 Colonial Drive in Heber
Springs,
Arkansas.
Mays had many
other ideas and plans. His
ultimate goal
was to build
a facility that would house trainees for the OJT program. Although the
OJT program continues, the facilities he dreamed of have yet to be
built.
The expense is tremendous. We receive no government funding and,
therefore,
rely on charitable contribution from our faithful supporters.
Ewing W. Mays
passed away in October of
1994. He is
truly missed. His
vision and work continue and his spirit prevails. Under the direction
of
his daughter Sherry, Mays Mission continues to provide assistance to
people
with disabilities in the form of scholarships, camperships, OJT,
visitation,
and our new volunteer caregivers program.
View a two
minute interview of our founder, Ewing W Mays
Note: This video is a 9 meg download and may take a minute or so to
begin.
We invite you to come and visit our facility in beautiful 
