With his foundation Wheels4Freedom Gerben de Lange drives wheelchair users around on a motorcycle with a sidecar. Through NH Helps Gerben also offers rides. “They get in and find it exciting, after ten minutes you see them relaxing and enjoying themselves.” The rides are not free, Gerben asks for a small contribution for petrol.
In the radio program NH Helpt, Gerben tells Rachel Morssink what it feels like to sit on the sidecar: “That’s very funny, of course it sounds very cliché. You feel the freedom, the space, the wind and all the forces, but it’s that cliché. also.”
Most people who sit in a wheelchair are always dependent on it, but on the sidecar they can forget that for a while. “They get in and find it exciting, after ten minutes you see them relaxing and enjoying themselves. And what they say: It is such a feeling of freedom. People experience that as very pleasant.”
Gerben’s range is increasing. He now has 15 volunteers working for the foundation who also drive people around, two sidecar motorcycles and the third sidecar is under construction. “I thought I would do five to ten rides a year, but that actually blew up right away.” Because Gerben needed more space for his foundation and the motorcycles, he even moved.
Listen to the NH Helpt radio fragment below
The rides are not completely free, Gerben charges a small fee for petrol. Wheelchair users can drive for half an hour, but they can also take Gerben to the Belgian Ardenne for a long ride. “It’s just what people want,” says Gerben.
WebsiteAll calls from NH Helpt can be read at nhhelpt.nl. You can also post your own question or offer here.
RadioRachel Morssink presents the NH Helpt program on the radio every Saturday between 12 noon and 2 p.m. The NH Helpt Answering Machine can be reached all week on: 088-8 505 303.
Every working day at 1:40 PM you will hear a request for help from June Hoogcarspel in her radio program June tot Twee.
TVNH Helpt can also be seen on TV. Isabella Prins presents the NH Helpt program for TV and online every Tuesday at 5:10 PM.