The late Steve Oliver was raised in Southern California; he attended local schools and the Orange Coast Community College.
He became interested in the plight of the poor in 1979, and began working with Christian Missionary Pilots, working in Arizona with the Hopi and Navajo Indians and in Baja Mexico with the Oxacan Indians. He received his pilot's license in 1980, and continued this volunteer work until 1991.
In 1991 he began full time work with Youth With a Mission in Tyler, Texas. He started the Mercy Ministry Department with YWAM at that base, and during this period he led numerous teams of Mercy Ministries workers to Mexico and Peru.
In 1994 he moved to Colorado Springs to help pioneer the Strategic Frontiers Base for YWAM, and worked in leading training schools.
In 1995 he attended The University of the Nations for the Foundations in Community Development training school, completing a 12 unit Community Development Class including a one-year internship in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua and Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. He worked with a team to provide advance preparation for Mercy Ship visits. This ship, the Caribbean Mercy, is one of five ships operated by YWAM, bringing medical relief to Third World nations. During his stay there, Oliver encountered the disabled community's need for mobility, and, working with local community leaders, he arranged for the distribution of fifty wheelchairs to the disabled poor.
While in this position, he interfaced with national leaders, including the First Ladies of both Nicaragua and Guatemala. In the Latin American culture, the First Lady is the leader of all humanitarian efforts. He also met with governors and mayors, as well as community leaders, as a representative of Mercy Ships. He returned to Colorado Springs late in 1996 to teach Community Development training at the Strategic Frontiers base in Colorado.
It was at this time that Steve co-founded  The Mobility Project, a disability relief organization. He continued as the CEO of this Organization until September of 2006 when he co-founded Push International to pursue his goals of bringing sustainable development to the disabled poor. Steve was the President of Push International and lived with his wife Miriam in Mazatlan, Mexico where he directed Push's projects there until his sudden and unexpected passing on May 8, 2007.
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Bree has had extensive experience working in foreign countries with people with disabilities, has researched deeply and felt the need to focus on sustainable services for people with disabilities abroad. She has seen first hand how the lack of disability policy and advocacy programs dramatically impact the lives of the disabled community and felt compelled to do something about it. 
