“The hurricanes last year have turned our Bahamian Islands upside down, and we have a desperate need for wheelchairs”.

We got this e-mail back in November 2020, right in the teeth of COVID-19. The ability to distribute the wheelchairs with our donors was not possible, but we could feel the desperation in their message. The note came from the area Rotarians, always willing to help and partner with Chair the Love worldwide to assist us in providing mobility to the neediest. Unable to ignore their plea, our generous donors, combined with others from the Wheelchair Foundation, pulled together the funds to purchase an entire container of Wheelchairs (280 chairs), to be delivered directly from the factory to the Bahamas. Because large crowds were discouraged by COVID restrictions, the chairs were given out, many just ones by one, at the homes of the recipients. Our Rotarian friends provided Chair the Love with a continual stream of photos, each one more touching than the last.

One of the distributions resulted in two chairs gifted at the Grand Bahama Children’s Home in Freeport. This amazing facility provides for 32 children from infants to 14 whose parents are unable to care for their development or physical needs. Two years later, a dear young boy was sitting in one of our chairs when he met Prince William. In March 2022, Prince William and Duchess Kate were in the Bahamas for a goodwill tour of several Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean. The prince was as taken as we were at Chair the Love with this young man and his joy. The story and photos were featured in news features both on Yahoo and Fox News. It just served to underscore the impact that each one of our donors has to change the lives of others, mostly outside the purview of royals.