Ceremony of Wheelchairs

Our wheelchair project was a success. The Municipality of Yenimahalle, a 2 1/2 million suburb of Ankara with the Spinal Paralysis Center prepared this wonderful ceremony. They had wonderful food and the event was organized better than any our East European Directors had seen before. As we came in they had all the chairs out with the name of the person it is going to on it. As we don't give chairs away to the family unless the recipient is with them, this worked so well. They picked up their chair and came into the ceremony for food, awards, and entertainment.

The Mayor and several dignitaries from the community and National Party officials were in attendance. It was a beautiful evening and turned out to be a very happy event. The Mayor gave out the awards.

This is a copy of the glass wheelchair they gave to us and to the Spinal Paralysis Center that participated in making the event successful.

The recipients were so happy to get the wheelchairs. The parents were so happy also. Many times we found that for the parents to go anywhere they had to carry the children, or just had to stay home with them. This not only gave the recipients some freedom, but also their families.

The man in the wheelchair is the director of the Spinal Paralysis Center, Yildrim. He is a very capable humble sweet man. We have really enjoyed getting to know him and his organization.

After the awards had been given, we took pictures of us with the recipients, or at least as many as we could catch. This little guy we thought was the essence of what we do. He was so happy not only to get his wheelchair but to get his picture taken.

There were many smiles, a few tears by us and many many memories that will stay with us forever.