It is noon on a Sunday and students and chaperones from Godwin High School have created an assembly line to unload materials from a large box truck. Working as a team, they move from start to finish on the installation of a modular, metal wheelchair ramp on the front stairs of Tina’s home.
Tina is a mother living with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Henrico County. Like the nearly fifty others on the RampsRVA waiting list, Tina has experienced financial hardship that made it impossible to purchase and install a wheelchair ramp on her own. For most living on a fixed disability income, spending an average of $3,000 on a ramp is out of the question.
“I don’t have words to express what y’all did for our family…but pure gratitude. You are truly a blessing, and my family will always be grateful to you,” said Tina, after installation of her ramp was complete. “To be able to get the chance to leave my house now to get the help I need, even just to feel the wind on my face again, I can’t describe how much it hits my heart.”
RampsRVA pays for and assembles modular, recyclable wheelchair ramps for individuals and families who are in desperate medical need and have qualified for financial assistance. Serving a target population that is low-income and either elderly or living with a disability at any age, 1,600-plus volunteers have donated more than 15,000 hours to put together 567 ramps since 2005.
According to Anne Jones, program coordinator with RampsRVA, the ramps have allowed recipients to attend life-saving medical appointments and combat social isolation, and more broadly, they have lifted up entire households. “A wheelchair ramp is such a simple thing that makes a world of difference, not only in the lives of those we serve, but the greater community systems as well,” said Jones.
Jones says a recent ramp recipient had been calling an ambulance service weekly so he could get help leaving his home and make it to his dialysis appointments. “Now those EMTs are freed up to assist others. The impacts are far-reaching,” says Jones.
Through its partnerships with Senior Connections, Sheltering Arms, United Spinal Association of Virginia, and the counties of Henrico and Chesterfield, RampsRVA receives a steady supply of requests for ramps. “In fact, for every ramp that is built, we receive three new requests,” Jones says.
In 2005, three students at Collegiate School joined forces to meet an unsupported need in the community, and RampsRVA was founded. Today, most ramps are still built by high school students from one of ten active RampsRVA clubs in both public and private schools across the region. The students raise money through sponsorship pitches to local businesses, fundraising efforts at festivals, and school events. Once the student clubs have raised enough money to cover the material costs of a ramp, they build the ramp together.
“It’s a unique experience because we not only have fun, but also take a step into the adult world – all while helping the community,” said Carson Wang, student director of RampsRVA and senior at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School.
