AL RASHID DISCTRICT, Baghdad, Iraq -- The Jihad Neighborhood Council (NC) and 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, gave something 38 citizens of the Al Rashid neighborhood never had until Aug. 27- mobility.

 Children and adults hurt during last year’s invasion and those suffering from birth defects would receive the chairs, said Capt. Jason Colbert, a spokesman for 1-7 Cav.   “The wheel chairs will make it easier on the families not to be a burden,” Colbert said.

 Five residents received the chairs at the ceremony at the Al Rashid District Council building. The remaining chairs will be passed out by the Jihad NC, Colbert said.   The entire project took approximately two months to complete, said Capt. Aaron Hetherington, the civil-military operations chief for 1-7 Cav.

 The NC broached the idea with the squadron but it took time to find the contractor. Eventually one was found in Jordan, Hetherington said.   The chairs cost approximately $150 a piece, Colbert said.  Handing out the wheel chairs will “increase the quality of life with one-small step,” Colbert said.

Quality of life was apparently a big issue for the handicapped citizens of Jihad. Many of them had to be carried everywhere they went, Colbert explained. 

 The recent giveaway wasn’t the squadron’s first. They teamed up with the Rizalla NC in July. A proposal to give 75 wheelchairs to residents of the Shurta neighborhood is in the works as well.