Wheels for the World at AVD 2009 - The Results

We were thrilled at the response to our "Wheels For the World" presence at Village Day this year. A record breaking total of £1,755 was raised as the overseas project, which often tends to grip people's imagination when they first hear of it, becomes more widely known throughout Ashtead. The new collaboration between "Wheels" and The annual Classic Car Display, which was organised by Alaisdair Wallace and Rob Rennie, courtesy of Ashtead Rotary, raised £535, with the rest coming mainly from our very popular Luxury Raffle with prizes donated by generous village traders.

Especially encouraging were the new contacts we made with people who wished to donate an old wheelchair in their possession that was no longer being used. One occupational therapist from a local hospital has DOZENS of derelict wheelchairs which she hopes to be able to pass on to us for renovation! Normally all these chairs would be destined for land fill!

The money raised will help fund the Wheelchair Workshop at Parkhurst Prison, and sponsor individual wheelchairs at £40 each. Each month the prisoners refurbish 50 chairs and each overseas trip, of which there are usually 3 per year, takes
approximately 160 chairs. Our next trips are to Ghana (November 2009), Kenya (March 2010) and, hopefully, Uganda (June 2010).

An exciting new development this year is that we have been able to send just wheelchairs, without a team, to our new destination of Tajikistan. If all goes well, next year we will send more wheelchairs with a "normal" distribution team of physiotherapists, occupational therpists, and wheelchair technicians. Also exciting is that wheelchairs are waiting to be sent to Iran for the first time, as soon as the political situation calms down. The Iranian Government has been very welcoming to us - the wheelchairs are destined for earthquake victims and for refugees fromer Afganistan . Again, we hope to follow this up with a "normal" team distribution in 2010.

Village Day next year is on 12th June so put it in your diary now and we hope to seee you there! As always , a HUGE thank you to all our supporters to whom we are so grateful.