PLEASE DONATE USED CRUTCHES TO HELP "TINY TIM" AND OTHERS DURING THE HOLIDAYS

Please help afflicted children and adults this holiday season by donating used crutches or other home health equipment to St. Louis HELP, the not-for-profit Health Equipment Lending Program that freely loans home medical equipment to anyone at no cost for as long they need it (http://stlhelp.org/).

“We need used crutches so that we can help people throughout greater St. Louis who don’t have them,” says St. Louis HELP Executive Director Laura Cannon Singer, who founded the nonprofit organization in 2008. One of Singer’s inspirations is “Tiny Tim,” the crippled little boy in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol who wished “God bless us, everyone!”

Every year St. Louis HELP loans more than 5,000 items at no cost including hospital beds, wheelchairs, scooters, lift chairs, canes, walkers, and other equipment that the group collects, cleans and revitalizes at its warehouse in Olivette.

In this way, St. Louis HELP diverts about 140 tons per year that would otherwise end up in the solid waste stream.

“Our warehouse is desperate for used crutches and other home health equipment to help people calling us for assistance through St. Louis HELP’s free lending program,” Singer says.

St. Louis HELP’s warehouse will be open during the holiday season by appointment. To pick up a needed home health item for any reason, call 314.567.4700. The organization serves people all year, but the holiday season is especially busy.

“Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance don’t always cover the cost of renting or buying certain types of home medical equipment that people desperately need,” Singer says. “We provide this equipment at no charge – making the difference between living independently or living a life of dependence and immobility.”

St. Louis HELP is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization staffed primarily by volunteers. It loans equipment to people disabled by injury, illness or surgery; those awaiting insurance company approval; those whose own equipment is being repaired; visitors to St. Louis who can’t transport their own home health equipment; and terminally ill persons.

To donate used crutches or almost any type of home medical equipment in good condition, or to borrow equipment for yourself or a loved one, call 314.567.4700 or visit the website http://www.stlhelp.org.

In August 2014, St. Louis HELP received a prestigious “Point of Light Award” from Points of Light, the volunteer management organization founded in 1990 in response to President George Bush’s call for volunteer community service.

For more information, see the website http://www.stlhelp.org.

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