VELVIA Smith could not contain the tears of excitement and relief when her 11-year-old daughter, Joelle, received a wheelchair courtesy of the Errol Rattray Evangelistic Association (EREA) last year.

The chair removed a huge burden from the mother of three, who has had to give up her job to give full-time care to her daughter who suffers from cerebral palsy.

For four years, Joelle did not go outside her Rollington Town home. But she was able to do so the very day that she received her chair, much to her joy and that of her mother.

But Joelle’s is only one of 1,100, wheelchairs given free of cost over the last two years to the disabled, elderly and those unable to walk around for health reasons, by the church group.

Come this week, while some people will be receiving chocolates and roses for Valentine’s Day, another 550 people will be given mobility with the gift of wheelchairs donated by Free Wheelchair International.

Free Wheelchair International is a group of persons based overseas, who have decided to raise funds to buy the chairs through their ministry.

“The wheelchair donation is an ongoing one,” Evangelist Errol Rattray from the EREA said.

“The organisation has plans to give away 550 wheelchairs every year until all the needs in Jamaica are met, and there are those who have given estimates of how many persons are in need of wheelchairs across Jamaica and it’s literally thousands,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Friday, ahead of the handing over of chairs between February 10 and 16.

“What has been interesting is that over the last two years we give to people and they have literally cried, saying they have been praying and asking God to send one because they could not afford one,” Rattray said.

The brand new, non-collapsible chairs are estimated to cost J$3.5 million, which does not include spare parts that come along with each chair.

“The Christian community seeks to reach out to persons who are in need,” Rattray explained.

“As an organisation it is a part of the social outreach programme and is just one of the many that we are engaged in. When we went to hospitals, KPH (Kingston Public Hospital) for example and saw what they were using – the footrests were tied up with cord and the backs were torn, and sometimes a person would be waiting for the use of a wheelchair and they didn’t have enough and so that is one of the reasons.”

Wheelchairs will also be given to hospitals, infirmaries and hospices across Jamaica.

“It’s a part of our Christian commitment of how we carry out the gospel, not just by preaching but by practical means,” the evangelist said.

“Although Jesus preached, he also healed the sick, fed the hungry and made a difference in their day-to-day lives, because people in their day-to-day lives have some serious realities.”

Giveaway points over the course of the week will be Kingston, Santa Cruz and Montego Bay.

“We will not necessarily give away the 550 in one week but we would have given away most of it,” Rattray said.

“But after that, for the next month, persons who are in need, like we have done in the past, we will keep back some for those who when they hear about it will call.

“Sometimes people are shot, sometimes they meet in an accident and out of that they end up paralysed… both old and young people. And there are those who have got old and a wheelchair is not something they are able to afford so we are able to give them a gift of love.

“So it’s from the background that God so love that he gave… and so we have to exercise that love. It’s a practical expression of the church to help in the area where people are hurting. So if there are persons out there who are in need of wheelchairs, then certainly we will give as much as we have,” he said.

Rattray said that people in the inner-city communities and the rural areas will be targeted, and anyone in need will receive, irrespective of their religious affiliation, or lack of it.

“It is not for the church community, it is for anyone. Like one politician said sometime ago, people who don’t vote shouldn’t be able to get benefits, but our thing is not like that, it’s whosoever, as long as they deserve it.”

Persons in need of a wheelchair or know of anyone in need of one are encouraged to call 922-7140-1 or 531-1696.