Mr. Lonnie E. VanHook the CEO & Community Development Director of My Wheels In Motion, a native of Alameda, California was born in Oakland, California at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital to Wanda L.VanHook, an artist/home health nurse, and Charles E. VanHook SR., a Navy Veteran/retired civil servant. As a person of color being raised in a family that emphasizes education, Mr. VanHook, a Navy Veteran himself, pursued higher learning throughout his life even in the interim of his Naval career and beyond his life-changing injury that made him a C-5 Quadriplegic (C-5 Quad) of thirty-three (33) years.

To date He continues to support and advocate “for himself as well as others with and without disabilities” for the empowerment to increase quality of life, education, and employment, most recently to afford the right to Treatment above Physician Assisted Suicide.

After having been subjected to many mental and medical challenges involving but not limited to his C-5 Quad diagnoses, Mr. VanHook not only membershiped, employed, and assisted with the empowerment of others, but also enveloped himself to the same empowerment practices for more stability & balance in his life living with disabilities.