Residents at Mandurah’s retirement village Amana Living’s Wearne House have taken it upon themselves to make lives of disadvantaged children across the world easier by kitting a bunch of fluffy colourful blankets for Wheelchairs for Kids.
Wheelchairs for Kids is a not-for-profit organisation where retiree volunteers across Australia make wheelchairs for disadvantaged children to be distributed free of charge.
The organisation ships more than 300 wheelchairs, blankets and toys per month to more than 70 countries across the world.
“They are mainly countries that are under-resourced,” Wheelchairs for Kids coordinator Bob Sheridan said.
“People there are very happy people, they are very generous people, and sometimes we are so well-off but not so happy.
“So the point about it is that it doesn’t hurt to give them a little bit of extra that we can live without.”
Ten Amana Living’s Wearne House residents decided to join the cause in September, contributing to Wheelchairs for Kids’ quest by knitting blankets to be sent together with the wheelchairs.
The knitting group is made up of volunteers from all ages and skill levels, and it even features a 95-year-old blind knitter, Maria Butler.
Mr Sheridan said the organisation was very pleased to see so many talented knitters giving up their time, and he said he was happy to come back on a regular basis to collect more donations.
He said the blankets knitted by Amana Living’s Wearne House volunteers would probably be shipped to Vanuatu or Tanzania.
Marta Pascual Juanola
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
