MESA, Ariz. — The name Mama Jo is a familiar one in the Mesa community. Joanne has been living on the streets of Mesa for years as a double amputee due to her drug usage and has struggled to move around in a wheelchair without the ability to push herself around.
She told 12News this has often led to people taking advantage of her by stealing from her and has placed her in some precarious positions.
After 12News spotlighted her need for help back in July through the work of Brock Bevell, the founder of the non-profit Fentanyl Project Arizona, Mama Jo now has some new wheels.
Two women, who are strangers to Mama Jo, took it upon themself to pay for a new electric wheelchair, which was hand-delivered to her by Bevell.
“It was heaven. Heaven came to me. I've been praying to get into an electric chair for the longest," Mama Jo said.
Bevell first met Joanne nearly a year ago and recognized that she was someone in dire need of help. One of her biggest crutches was the old, manual wheelchair she'd been using for a long while.
“There was a bar that was underneath her that her body was growing into the bar. I mean, it was needed," Bevell said.
This week, she was ecstatic when Bevell showed up with the new electric wheelchair, equipped with her very own steering wheel in the palm of her hand.
“I can have myself back. The first thing I did that night was I went like 10 blocks that way, and just kept going and seeing things I haven't seen for a long time," Joanne said.
Bevell said he was contacted by two women here in Arizona, Cheryl and Barbara, who offered to help pay for the wheelchair after they saw a story 12News published in July, and saw Bevell's outreach efforts on the social media platform TikTok.
“It just shows the love they have, the compassion they have for people," Bevell said. "They don't know Mama Jo, they don't know what she's going through. They see it, which is part of what we do. We want to show people and highlight what it is, just so people can get involved and have some compassion and empathy for what's happening.”
Mama Jo expressed her immense gratitude to the women who went out of their way to help her.
“I was shocked because everybody says that they're going to be back to help me, but nobody comes back. I want to thank the women that did this for me. They are my angels in disguise," she said.
The pursuit by Bevell to get Mama Jo off the streets and into sobriety for good continues. He said he hopes to partner with the City of Mesa and other non-profits to get her into a permanent home. Mama Jo expressed her desire to receive that help she so desperately needs.
To help, you can find the Fentanyl Project AZ Instagram account here, and their Tiktok page here.
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