The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently donated 1,300 wheelchairs and orthopedic items throughout Argentina.
The donations were carried out in seven special ceremonies in ward and stake buildings in Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Rosario, La Plata and Mendoza.
With these new donations, the Church celebrated 16 years of working with CILSA, an organization in Argentina that promotes inclusion of people with disabilities — especially children and teens.
During those 16 years of collaboration, the Church has donated more than 15,000 wheelchairs, reported the Church’s Argentina Newsroom.
Juan Carlos Losa received his first wheelchair 14 years ago when he was three years old. It had been donated by the Church through CILSA.
In May, the 17-year-old received a new wheelchair at the donation ceremony held at the La Boca Ward building in Buenos Aires.
“I am super happy with my new chair,” Juan said. “I would like to play a sport, maybe basketball. You do not know the joy I have today. Thank you very much!“
Sister Ana María Lopez, an area organization advisor in the Church’s South America South Area expressed her sincere gratitude to CILSA for serving the poor and needy during its 66-year history.
“God is very pleased,” she said in the Newsroom release. “This service is the very essence of our religion and beliefs, as the Savior Jesus Christ said: As soon as you did it to one of these little ones, you did it to me.”
In a Facebook post from the South America South Area, the president of CILSA, Silvia Carranza, said throughout all the years of working together, the Church has always provided wheelchairs and orthopedic items with high quality to reflect what a person with disabilities needs.
