Photo courtesy of Special Needs Group
Sometimes chance can lead to life-changing opportunities. South Florida entrepreneur Andrew Garnett knows this all too well.
The 55-year-old founder, president and CEO of the Special Needs Group/Special Needs at Sea has spent much of his adult life helping people with physical limitations travel the world. It wasn’t a job he had envisioned for himself, but rather one that fell into his lap. Years ago, while out to dinner, he had a chance encounter with a travel agent who needed someone to deliver medical equipment to Florida cruise ports. Garnett volunteered, and those early deliveries eventually grew into a thriving, lifelong career.
“I had a small car, so I would fold the seats down and shove wheelchairs in and break down scooters to make deliveries,” says Garnett, who lives in Plantation with his wife, Anita, and their son, Alec. “I eventually rented a van on busier days, and I ended up purchasing a vehicle, leasing a warehouse and hiring staff.”
Today, Garnett provides medical equipment such as mobility scooters, lift chairs and hospital beds to travelers in 70 countries around the globe. His company supplies these essentials to guests staying at resorts and hotels and specializes in helping cruise passengers obtain the equipment they need before setting sail.
Garnett also supports the special needs community in South Florida. He serves on the board of Arc Broward, a Sunrise-based nonprofit that supports and empowers people with disabilities, and he has hired some participants in the organization’s programs to work in his warehouse, where they sanitize equipment and assemble wheelchairs.
He describes his work as a “feel-good business,” and though he has several uplifting stories to share, he says one stands out the most. While at a gas station one day, a woman noticed the Special Needs at Sea advertisement on his van, and she asked if the company delivered oxygen tanks to cruise ships. For years, her mother believed she couldn’t travel because she required supplemental oxygen, but thanks to Garnett, she learned she was mistaken.
“People don’t understand that you don’t have to stay home,” Garnett says. “I just want to get the word out that people don’t have to experience the world by watching TV or surfing the internet — you can see it in person.”