London to Brighton for Wheels
Meike Currie has been involved with Wheels for the World for many years. Since 2000, she's been to Albania, South Africa and many times to Kenya, working fitting chairs and seeing the lives of individuals and whole families changed through a wheelchair, the offer of a Bible and the love of God through actions.
She took part in the sponsored London to Brighton Bike Ride on the 20th June with a team of fellow medics from King's College Hospital, raising over £1000 for Wheels for the World. You can find out more, and read Meike's report by following this link to reach Meike's Just Giving page.
Thank you to all of you lovely people who have given so generously to Through the Roof by supporting me on my London to Brighton Bike Ride. We had a great day with ideal weather. IN between the cycling there was a lot of queuing involved on the day even trying to get past the official starting line, then at the usual bottle neck areas but unfortunately also when accidents had to be dealt with by the medics. Our little group was kept safe from any nasty incidents and it was lovely to take in the beautiful English countryside along the way.
Jacky on Premier's Traveller's Tales Show
Through the Roof CEO, Jacky Oliver appeared on the Premier Radio show 'Traveller's Tales to talk about her life journey. Here's an MP3 of that programme.
Follow this link to listen to Jacky on Travellers Tales (10MB MP3 file)
Wheels for the World at Village Day 2010
Thanks to all our faithful ‘Wheels’ supporters at Ashtead Village Day, over £1,300 was raised this year for the wheelchair distribution trips in 2011. We hope to run three trips with countries under consideration being Ghana, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya and Uganda. As well as finding buried treasure, entering our fantastic raffle with prizes donated from Ashtead traders and spinning to win a soft toy, each car owner in the classic car display kindly donated their entrance fees to ‘Wheels’. This was arranged again this year by Rob Rennie and Alaisdair Wallace who themselves drive rather elegant looking cars!
A wheelchair distribution team are in Uganda as I write. This will be the first time in Uganda, partnering with Non Government Organisation RILD (Response Initiative for Learning Disabilities). Please see our Wheels for the World pages for more information about this and other wheelchair distributions.
If you would like to be more involved in the work of Wheels for the World, whether through praying, fundraising, or offering your skills to be part of a distribution team as a physio or occcupational therapist, technician or administrator, please contact 01372 749955 or email us by following this link.
Our next Ashtead fundraising event will be the Summer Garden Party on Friday 13th August at 15 Paddocks Way, Ashtead between 2pm and 4pm. Tickets available in advance for £5 from Karen: follow this link to email her.
Friendly Church
A smiling, cheerful greeting and acknowledgment of me and my family is one way I consider I am being welcomed into a 'friendly church'. But how can you tell which churches are friendly? What does one look like? What criteria might someone use?
Through the Roof has joined up with the good people of Mind and Soul Mind and Soul to talk over this very issue. Mind and Soul have coined the phrase MHFC (Mental Health Friendly Churches) and there are similarities across the spectrum of disability and beyond. Let's face it, who wouldn't want to be part of a welcoming, loving, accepting community of people with Jesus at the centre?
Take a look at Mind and Soul's website to read the articles and listen to presentations at: the Mental Health friendly pages on Mind and Soul's website, then join in the conversation.
We'd love to hear people's thoughts. You could also start a discussion on our Facebook page.