The site where our distribution was held serves as a training site for security guards. On Tuesday, one of the security guards came in to see if someone could work on his wheelchair. The man is the father of three and as a paraplegic he needs the chair in order to support his family.
Rico talked to him and asked him to return on Thursday afternoon when the distribution would be slowing down and he would have more time to work on the chair. He also hoped that we might have an extra chair to give him.
The picture above shows how slim the pickings were at the BEGINNING of the day!
The guard dutifully arrived Thursday afternoon and Rico started working on his chair. The chair was badly worn and rusted and the tires were shot.
Fortunately, there was ONE chair that had the canted wheels (a sports chair) and it fit the guard perfectly except for a slight adjustment on the footrests (at this point we were pleased if a chair even had footrests)! Kathy approved giving him the chair – even though he hadn’t been registered for one. In exchange he left his chair.
He was quite pleased with his chair.
Later in the day a family came in with an order for crutches. It quickly became evident that this man really needed a chair – especially for the son to take him to the doctor. Since he hadn’t actually been signed up for a wheelchair, he was offered the chair that the guard had left (which was not in our inventory). For limited use, the chair would work just fine and this family also left feeling grateful that their need had been met.
Some random pictures from the distribution:
Diane playing with some of the kids while they wait.
Below: a group of patients receiving wheelchair training. The only step/curb that she had available was into the ladies room.
Pictured here are two of our volunteers. Marleni is an occupational therapist who helped and served as a translator. Her mother was also a volunteer. Her grandmother received a chair.
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