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For those unable to safely leave their home, one ramp can open up their world again.
The Texas Ramp Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds free ADA approved wheelchair ramps for anyone who needs one, including people with disabilities and lower-income elderly. For many who receive the ramps, it is not only about allowing them independence to come in and out of their home, but also about keeping them safe in an emergency.
The organization keeps the process simple by requiring individuals to obtain a referral from a medical or healthcare provider such as St. Joseph Health, says Roy Harrington, region coordinator of the Brazos Valley chapter.
“The referrals get sent to both me and the state level so that multiple people know the referral has been made,” Harrington says. “After that, one of my team members or I will go out and check the site, take dimensions and begin to design the ramp.”
Each ramp costs about $1,000 and is customized to the individual’s property. Multiple steps are taken to ensure the ramp is designed correctly and all supplies are gathered before sending out a team to build the ramp. The organization receives grants and donations to ensure that ramps are accessible to all with no financial commitment to the client, Harrington says.
With the organization being entirely volunteer-based, Texas Ramp Project partners with local churches, service groups, schools, businesses and individuals who are interested in being a part of a team. Volunteers need no special skills or experience to assist, but are recommended to be over 16. However, with adult supervision, high school-age volunteers are allowed.
“In the Brazos Valley, we work with the Aggieland Young Men’s Service League two weekends a month,” Harrington said. “Since they have a responsible parent with them, they can be on site even if they're below that age.”
When volunteers arrive, all the materials have already been dropped off and an experienced team leader is on-site to oversee the project, says Texas Ramp Project board member Kay Champagne.
“Within about four or five hours, depending on how long the ramp is, a team of four, five or six people can actually put together a ramp so that when they leave, that client has a new ramp,” Champagne says.
After one morning of volunteering, a person’s life is truly changed forever, Champagne says.
“When the volunteer builders are finished, the client is invited to go up and down the ramp in their wheelchair or with their walker. They have basically been freed from being imprisoned in their home,” Champagne says.
The ramps also help to enhance recipients’ safety by allowing them to be able to enter and exit their home freely. “There was an incident in Eastland, Texas, where a house caught on fire, and because there was a ramp at that house that our volunteers had built, it saved the person’s life,” director of administration Sandra Knutson says.
Overall, volunteers have a positive experience from building ramps because they can see the immediate benefit to the resident and community, Knutson says.
“The volunteers know they have accomplished something huge,” Knutson says. “They don’t have to do a little bit of service and then wait for something else to happen — they get to see the fruits of their labor immediately.”
Since its founding in 1985, the Texas Ramp Project has built over 23,800 ramps in the state. The vision of the organization is to ensure that no Texas resident lacks safe access because of financial limitations, says Knutson, who hopes to increase the number of ramps built every year.
In 2022, Texas Ramp Project volunteers built nearly 1,900 ramps with 78 of those ramps being in the Brazos Valley.
For more information on how to donate or volunteer, visit texasramps.org.
