How did the idea of "PMW" get started? It struck me during a visit to my mother's nursing home. There I was, surrounded by a group of ladies in their wheelchairs watching MTV's Pimp My Ride". We were watching my son in one of their segments highlighting our most successful paints and finishes. We had a ball watching the show and my mother really got a kick out of seeing the transformation from an old, beat-up car at the start of the show, to an incredible and beautiful automobile at the end.

It was then that something stirred in me about what I can bring to people's lives. It had to do with more than just making a living out of selling paints. I had been fortunate enough to become successful and really love what I do for a living, but something was gnawing at me. Was this enough? I started to reflect on my life and how I was a refugee at a young age. I went through many hardships after my family and I were kicked out of our country. I remembered the suffering and especially the difficulty we went through trying to immigrate to this country. More importantly, I remembered how so many people helped us start our new life in America. My humble beginnings reminded me of what I have been blessed with so far.

I want to make a difference. I no longer want to sit on the sidelines and sign those checks to charities and organizations. It's a good thing to do, but I want to be more proactive about giving. Since creating beautiful and innovative paints and fabrics is what I do best, it was a natural progression to utilize my trade towards a charitable offering. I decided to create a foundation to help transform an ordinary wheelchair into something that would delight disabled people everywhere in the world. The name "Pimp My Wheelchair" was inspired by Alsa's successful TV appearance and seemed a perfect fit. We hope that young people will be excited by this creative process and feel special in their personally customized wheelchair. This is my dream. I hope that many of you will empathize with the wheelchair-bound among us.

CHAIRMAN

IKE BANOUN