This year, the Texas Ramp Project is celebrating 40 years of building wheelchair ramps for those in need, and Tuesday, the local group carrying out that mission celebrated building 40 ramps this year alone.
With a little lumber and a few power tools, the team of volunteers is changing lives.
“You’re going to make me cry. That makes me happy for her,” said Connie Green after the group was done building a ramp at her mother’s home.
Green’s mother, Peggy, is battling cancer. “It’s metastasized into her bones, and they’re deteriorating so fast they had to put a rod in her leg. So coming up and down the stairs, pretty much impossible, but she’s such a fighter — she doesn’t want to slow down. With doctor’s appointments three days a week for the chemotherapy, the fear was falling coming down the stairs,” said Green.
Now, on top of those stairs is a ramp, built and installed for free.
“Without the ramp, literally, I think we would have had to, against her wishes, pack her up and move her,” said Green.
Green’s mother is one of many who have been given a new path forward by volunteers serving Bowie County through the Texas Ramp Project.
“People that are on hospice, and people that have had strokes or knee issues, ramps make it easy to get in and out of their homes. They get to the doctor’s appointments, they can get to the grocery store, they can even get outside and just spend time in the sun,” said Jim Aldridge, the group’s coordinator.
They do this work because they see the impact it can have, and they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. “They built this ramp in 90 minutes and loaded up and headed to a second location. They’re just truly doing God’s work,” said Green.
The volunteers say they can usually install one ramp a week, but their list of people in need currently has about 60 names, and is growing all the time.
To continue their work, the group is seeking donations and additional volunteers who want to make a difference. If you would like to help or refer someone who needs a ramp, visit the Texas Ramp Project website at texasramps.org.
BOWIE CO., Texas (KTAL/KMSS), By: Hunter Trombetta