Wheelchairs for Jewish Community’s Shuls
Chazak Foundation’s first project was to donate 22 wheelchairs to various Shul’s in Johannesburg. The Shul’s were selected and each one received a donation of a wheelchair at a presentation on 5 September 2010. This enables an elderly person who is dropped at the entrance but cannot walk the distance into the Shul or an adult or child who has hurt their leg or foot and cannot walk or be carried the distance, to now enter the Shul with ease and no concerns and has the means to get around. It is amazing the positive feedback we have received since the wheelchairs were donated.
Rabbi Goldstein from Ohr Sameach Savoy commented: The wheelchair has been a great asset to the shul. It has been used to transport a mother on a Saturday morning to the naming of her daughter as she could not walk the long distance. An elderly lady had heart surgery and she could not walk the distance to Shul on s aturday so she has been using the wheelchair. There was a man that wanted to get from Savoy Estates to Glenhazel on a Saturday morning and he could not manage to walk such a far distance so he used the wheelchair.
Congregates as Sydenham Shul commented: During Rosh Hashanah there was a man who had just had an operation on his leg and wanted to go to shul. Sydenham Shul provided him with the wheelchair and he was so pleased to get to shul to hear the choir. Sydenham Shul congregates could not believe how many people need wheelchair assistance. The comment was that they wish they had more wheelchairs. Chazak has created an awareness to consider people who are experiencing a disability.
