Wheel Chair Donation from Behring - Wine for Wheels Foundation and Rotary Club of Pleasanton, California
On Monday May 16th Jeff Behring of the Wine for Wheels Foundation, accompanied by Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Pleasanton, California and members of the Rotary Clubs of Gros Islet and Saint Lucia transported a number of wheel chairs to the town of Soufriere for distribution.
It was a glorious day as 30 Rotarians and partners in service loaded twenty wheel chairs on to MV Free Willie and headed south to the picturesque town of Soufriere, the former capital city of Saint Lucia and the birthplace of the Empress Josephine, the wife of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. There we unpacked the chairs on the dock and headed out to deliver to various pre-determined homes. We were met by the parliamentary representative for the area who acted as our guide.
After the home distribution Rotarians gathered at the Soufriere Hospital where we were joined by PHF Simone Mondesir who together with the staff at the hospital took responsibility for distributing the remaining chairs, all of which were allocated to individuals who could not make it into the centre on that day.
On Tuesday we held an official press launch for the distribution of the chairs at Saint James Club, the hotel that partnered with us by giving the visitors excellent rates.
Jeff Behring, founder of the Wine for Wheels Foundation, a charitable foundation that raises money to purchase and donate wheel chairs explained that he is building on his father's legacy. His dad started the Behring foundation after a visit to the far east where he was privileged to donate a wheel chair to someone who had no mobility. It was the testimony of that individual that so moved his father, that he started to raise funds and donate wheel chairs. In short, the recipient told Mr. Behring senior that they wanted to die but upon regaining their independence and self respect as a result of the simple gift of a wheel chair, that despair was replaced by a will to live.
Jeff reached out to the Rotary Club of Pleasanton, California when he and his wife Jane identified saint Lucia for a donation of chairs. RC Pleasanton matched Jeff's funds and together they acquired and shipped 270 chairs to Saint Lucia in care of the Ministry of Health.
The remainder of the week teams of Rotarians, accompanied by the Minister of Health or members of the Ministry staff, delivered over 150 wheel chairs. the remaining chairs will be distributed in the coming weeks .
One of the high lights of the week was the handing over of chairs at the Child Development and Guidance Centre. It was touching to say the least to see the positive impact the chairs made on the differently abled children and humbling to see the passion with which Dr. Kim Gardner and her team carry out their care for these children.
Special thanks to AG Konrad who did a super job organizing the entire week of activities and coordinating with the Ministry of Health to ensure that everything worked without a hitch.