We've been travelling with the handicapped for about eight years now. We try to travel every two years. A lot of them are on financial assistance, so we have to raise a lot of funds to be able to do it.

We have bake sales, tea parties and pledge sheets. Everyone has to work hard. We write letters to different businesses as well and some of them donate.

: Yes. The hotel alone costs $10,000 for nine nights. We've been fund-raising for that and so far, we've raised about $9,000. If there's any left over, it goes towards the cost of the transport. They're so enthused, they work really hard, going around with pledge sheets and the like. There are about six volunteers. We take quite a few men who are willing to take time off. They pay for their own tickets and I pay my own way. I don't get anything out of it, except that I love doing it. I've taken some handicapped people away on cruises to the Caribbean and the Association fund-raises for that. I pay for myself. My husband Leslie comes along and I get him working hard, pushing wheelchairs. Then there is Willard Fox, chairman of the BPHA. Gladys Dillas, who is always in the limelight with the Girl Guides, is coming to help.

Gary Hayward ? I asked him because he's a strong guy who works in construction ? so he helps to lift the men in the group. I always give him the same two or three guys to look after and he sleeps in the same room with them. Ms Dillas and myself take care of the girls.

Q: Are most of the people you will accompany wheelchair-bound?

A: Yes.

Oh, yes. It's chaos! When they announce it's the BPHA coming, everyone just clears out of the way for all these wheelchairs. And before they got the lift at the airport, there was a lot of hard lifting involved. We have a few heavy ones, who have been in a wheelchair all their lives.: We've been to Florida twice and Atlanta twice. This time we're going to Philadelphia because we want to see the Amish people in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

We also plan to visit the Liberty Bell, see where the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Franklin Institute and the Academy of Natural Sciences. They want to see some historical and cultural places, not just fun parks!

: I love to see how much they enjoy it. Some of them, their families don't bother with them any more. They just put them away and forget them. I don't look at their disability ? I look at them as friends.

A lot of people ask me how I can be around handicapped people all the time. I tell them: Just forget they're in a wheelchair. Most of them say they admire me for that. A lot of people look at the wheelchair first.

: Yes. Just to see the excitement and joy on their faces gives me satisfaction. We take the physically challenged on trips because it gives them hope and something to look forward to in life.

They cannot just get up and travel like most of us ? they have to plan to raise funds. We take them shopping, to the movies and to other events. It's a labour of love and my payment is not money, but doing as Jesus would.

They hardly sleep! They are so anxious to go out and see things. They call me early in the morning and knock on my door, saying, 'Are you ready yet'?

We once took them to Disney World and it was hard for them to get on the rides, because they're not designed for disabled people. So they just sat and watched and still enjoyed it.

Some of them like strip clubs! I don't go with them, but my daughter does.

: Oh, yes. They really enjoy themselves. For the whole two years between trips, it's all they talk about. A few of them have already their suitcases ready ? and we're not leaving until August 23! That's how excited they get.

I take a few of them away every year, people whose family can pay for them. The family may go abroad but may not take the person with them. When they hear that I'm going away, they ask if the person can go with me.

Those people can make anybody love them because they're so bubbly. That's why I love to be around them.

They make me forget my problems, because most of them can't walk, yet, to me, they're some of the happiest people in the world. That's why I like to be around them.

I don't hear them talking about their problems, because they're so jolly, and it makes me forget mine.

I sometimes go to visit them on a Saturday. People say to me, 'They're the only friends you have', and I say to them, 'they're human'.

: Yes. Because you're physically handicapped does not mean you're mentally challenged. A lot of Bermudians, when they see someone in a wheelchair, they talk around them. They see someone in a wheelchair and think he must have a mental problem. Yes, we do. People often stare. And most of them are very defensive, because people have laughed at them when they were growing up. A few of them might say, 'What are you looking at'?

Willard Fox, for example, sometimes he has his head down and people come and rub his head. And he says, 'I'm not a dog, I'm a human being'. I think a lot of Bermudians need to be educated on how to treat a disabled person.

: My niece, Belinda Rogers, who was wheelchair-bound due to lupus, used to say, 'Why can't we go away on a trip'? I was all for it. But she got sick, she got worse, had a stroke and she passed away. I decided we would still do some fund-raising and trips even though she was gone. She suggested it. And I think that's what started us off.: I started working at the hospital when I was 17 years of age, training as a nursing assistant. I worked with disabled seniors and, years later, I began working with the disabled young people.

I've always been involved in charity work. I was acting superintendent for the St. John Ambulance Brigade and, until recently, I was vice-president of the BPHA.

I ran the Silent Waters nursing home for three years and I just retired two years ago as a case manager for Elder Home Care, on North Shore Road. I quit to take care of my two grandchildren, Markus and Markel, until they turned two, and they just have done.

: Yes. I am president of the Cancer Assistance Research Foundation (CARF). We aim to help a person who is living with cancer. We select someone and give the cheque to Lady Cubitt Compassionate Association (LCCA), who will then distribute the money to the patient.

We also give a cheque towards the work of Dr. Jaime Bacon every time we have a fund-raising event and that money goes towards cancer research.

There are so many people who have cancer in Bermuda, the research is badly needed. Dr. Bacon had found a lot of deformed amphibians and is trying to find out whether there is a link with cancer. There are a lot of new cancers coming out now.

Not many at the moment, but many people help us with bake sales and other fund-raisers. A lot of time. This Saturday, we have a bake sale for CARF at Lindo's in Warwick. We'll be selling home-made bread, cakes and cookies.

My daughter, LA Virgil, has cancer and she's the one who started this charity. She wouldn't let us help her though. The charity's been going for about four years now.

Right now, I call myself retired. But I keep so busy, it seems like I'm still working. It's just that I'm not getting paid any more.

Then there's my church. I don't do too much for them, but I'm the public relations officer for the New Testament Church on Cedar Hill. My brother's the pastor there.