Woman’s wheelchair battery is returned
Published: March 2, 2006
Joanne Hardy got her happy ending yesterday.
A New Bedford man who runs a Rhode Island flea market returned the battery to the disabled woman’s wheelchair.
The man, who only wants to be known as “Wally,” read about the battery disappearing from the sidewalk outside Ms. Hardy’s downtown apartment in yesterday’s Standard-Times.
He began calling Olympia Towers, where she lives, first thing in the morning. By early in the afternoon, the battery had been identified and returned.
Wally had purchased the battery from a man who collects junk from sidewalks; he suspected it was Joanne’s when he read the story, said Ms. Hardy’s friend, Joyce Anthony.
“I’m very, very thankful,” said Ms. Hardy, who has cerebral palsy. She had said she was worried that on her limited income, it might be tough to replace the $600 battery.
The battery powers a collapsible wheelchair that allows Ms. Hardy to get in and out of cars and even the hard-to-get-to places in her apartment. Without it, she was confined to a clunky, government-issued wheelchair that leaves her far less mobile.
Even before she got her battery back, people who read about her plight had offered to help, Ms. Anthony said.
Mike Mahaney, who runs a Fairhaven fire alarm company, offered to purchase a battery at cost. Pilgrim United Church of Christ, which is located across the street from where she lives, offered to purchase a new one, as did Ms. Anthony’s elderly aunts.
Ms. Anthony said the response had boosted her faith in people.
“There still are some good souls out there,” she said.
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