EREA to partner with Soles4Souls to distribute 4,000 pairs of shoes

BY MARK CUMMINGS Editor-at- Large, Western Bureau cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com

Thursday, January 12, 2012

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Errol Rattray, the chief executive officer of Errol Rattray Evangelistic Association (EREA) has announced that his organisation is partnering with US based-Soles4Souls to distribute 4,000 pairs of new shoes to students islandwide, between March and May of this year.

Valued at roughly US$80,000, Rattray said 2,000 pairs will be delivered in March.

" What we really want to do is to make it an ongoing project so next year we are planning to distribute even more," Rattary emphasised.

He was speaking last Friday at the Faith Temple Assembly of God Church, Princess Street in Montego Bay, at a ceremony to launch the distribution of 200 wheelchairs by EREA to organisations and individuals in western Jamaica with special needs.

The wheelchairs form part of a donation of 550, valued at roughly $7 million, that were handed over by the Free Wheelchairs Mission to EREA last week Tuesday.

Rattray told the gathering that 24 persons have been trained to assembly and repairs the wheelchairs and pledged to continue the programme until the wheelchair needs of Jamaica are met.

"Aside from these wheelchairs that we have received, we have got with them extra wheels, pumps and spanners," he noted.

He thanked the government for waiving "certain duties" on the equipment, and lauded Free Wheelchair Mission for their donation.

Founded just over 10 years ago, Free Wheelchair Mission with its motto :"Transforming lives through the gift of mobility," is a faith -based non profit organisation dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations.

Since its inception, the group has donated more than 700,000 wheelchairs to over 81 countries around the world.

Dr Tony Angelo, a volunteer at the Free Wheelchair Mission said last Friday, that the organisation decided to get involved with Jamaica because of it needs for the equipment.

" Jamaica was definitely in our hearts for us to come and do this here. We know that there are a number of people here in the population who suffer silently so often. They are many persons with disabilities who cannot move around to see their families and so these (wheelchairs) provide a opportunity for them to be a part of their communities and to turn around their lives," he explained.

Norma Burnett of Montego Bay who received one of wheelchairs, expressed gratitude for the gift.

" I am very happy for it," said Brown, who is suffering from a fractured hip and a stroke.

The injury to her hip occurred roughly four weeks ago, when she tried to prevent her husband -who has an impaired vision- for falling.