By Sarah Asinof | News Editor
As most Baylor students hunkered down in the library to prepare for final exams, Baylor’s Helping Hands, a club designed to support mentally and physically disabled students on campus and throughout the Waco community, donated a $7,700 wheelchair to 7-year-old Alaina Davis. Davis has cerebral palsy, a congenital disorder of movement, muscle tone or posture as well as severe scoliosis, which is curvature of the spine.
Last semester, Huntsville senior and founder and president of Helping Hands Taylor Ernst received news from a physical therapist within Waco ISD that Davis desperately needed a wheelchair to help improve her daily life. Once the call was made, Helping Hands made it their goal to raise the money for Davis.
“Among many projects throughout the semester, we did a weeklong fundraiser to raise the money,” Ernst said. “Mostly, donations through Facebook and our website made this project possible.”
Beyond the money that went into the project, Ernst says being a part of this project was extremely rewarding.
“It is without a doubt one of the best feelings in the world,” Ernst said. “Being able to show Christ’s love to someone in need is one of the most rewarding feelings ever.”
Betty Turner, Davis’ grandmother, said in an interview with Lariat TV News that she was shocked Helping Hands provided this wheelchair for her granddaughter.
“Shocked… I couldn’t believe it because I mean nobody does that for people. For that to happen — it was awesome,” Turner said.
Ernst started the club after raising over $5,000 on the website GoFundMe for his best friend with cerebral palsy who needed a special scooter to get around Baylor’s campus. Ernst says he hopes to continue to provide resources for people with special needs and prays that the group will trust God to provide a way.
While this was one of Helping Hands bigger donations, they have been raising money for children in Waco as well as Baylor students for the past few years. If you would like to donate to help children like Davis, go to https://baylorhelpinghands.org/new-donations/.
