By Vanessa Overholser - Staff Writer
A Morehead Life Care resident received a battery- powered wheelchair as a surprise gift from a local church and youth group Wednesday night. Youth members and a visitation minister were there to present the gift.
“She asked if we could help,” said Sharkey Freewill Baptist Church minister Ralph Taylor.
Taylor approached pastor Harley Sexton about the need and asked for some direction about providing for the need.
“My pastor led me to the youth director Barb Isom,” Taylor said. “She got the young people excited about it. It was their decision to have the car wash and bake sale.”
The youth group conducted the fundraisers in August and raised enough money in two weeks.
“Kentucky Bank was generous enough to provide the water and space to have the car washes,” Taylor said.
There were roughly 15 to 20 youth and some adults who came out to help.
“I even went out there and held a sign and washed cars,” he said. “Kenny Fouch, minister at the nursing home in Flemingsburg, was there. He, his wife and two daughters were also involved.”
He said everything they needed to get the chair fell into place.
“There was a guy who had one for sale,” he said. “Kenneth Butler’s family had it and they wanted a lot of money for it. We prayed about it. Then he lowered the price but it was not enough. We prayed about it again and then it got lowered to $500. It was worth $3,000.”
Once the church purchased the chair, they found out the batteries didn’t work.
“The lord worked that out,” Taylor said. “The batteries that go into those chairs are Jell Cell batteries. I called Napa. They wanted $143 for each. We needed two. I told him I was going to call everyone about getting a price for the chair and he quoted me $93 per battery and was going to sell me the batteries at that price.”
But Taylor said God had another plan in mind.
“God had an old wheelchair put in place for us,” he said. “There was an old battery-operated wheelchair that was not working. It had two batteries that were like new. We took the batteries out and put them in the chair. We did not have to buy the new batteries.”
The youth group and Taylor presented the wheelchair as a surprise to Margaret Roloson.
“She couldn’t say a lot. She was flabbergasted,” Taylor said. “She doesn’t hear real well. Ms. Margaret will use it as long as she needs it and it will be passed on to another resident in the center.”
“We hope to inspire others to do the same thing,” Taylor said. “We want to establish a tradition. Life Care can take care of some of their needs. They can provide security, food and shelter they need. They can’t provide friendship. There were smiles all over the place. The whole group was excited.”
Taylor said helping people in need is what his church is all about.
