In 1996, Rebuilding Together Henry County (formerly known as Christmas in April) built its first wheelchair-accessible ramp at the former Geneseo Food Pantry.
This week the organization hit a new milestone and installed its 400th wheelchair ramp in Cambridge. Every one of those ramps was built at no charge to the homeowner.
What makes this accomplishment so big, according to Rebuilding Together Henry County Executive Director Sarah Snider, is that ramp no. 300 was built just two years ago.
“The organization was able to build 100 ramps in two years due to their amazing volunteers, known as the Ramp Crew,” Snyder said. “The Ramp Crew is always looking for new volunteers; if you’re interested contact the office at 309-288-4600 and they will get your contact information and pass it along to the volunteer crew leaders,” she said.
The group recently started building ramps in Stark County and is seeking volunteers from all over Henry and also Stark County to assist with this program.
Jim Themanson, ramp crew leader in Kewanee, said Rebuilding Together Henry County has about 40 volunteers; as many as 12 are used in each installation.
Rebuilding Together Henry County sets its territory according to school districts. So since Neponset is in the Kewanee School District, residents there can have ramps built by the organization. People in Mineral are eligible because they’re in the Annawan School District.
And since Rebuilding Together Henry County is expanding into the Stark County School District, people In an area from LaFayette to Bradford can avail themselves of the organization’s services.
In the past five years, Snyder said, the group has provided over 200 ramps for individuals with compromised mobility.
“When they first started building ramps, there was only one volunteer that would design the ramps,” she said. “Now we have six volunteers that are trained to design these ramps throughout the county.”
The ramps are temporary structures and when no longer needed they will be removed so that the large section can be recycled and used on another ramp. This has kept the costs lower, especially now that lumber and materials costs have continued to rise over the past few years.
This program relies heavily on local funding from the Geneseo Community Chest, Geneseo Foundation, Miller Foundation, Kewanee Area United Way and Moline Foundation, Snyder said. Donations from individuals are also welcomed.
“A partnership built by our national organization with Lowes has helped 40 or more ramps to be built each year,” she said. “This partnership over the past five years has been crucial to the success of this program.”
Great Dane has been providing the steel plates that are placed at the end of every ramp as in-kind donations; this has helped reduce costs as well.
There are currently over 170 ramps in use throughout Henry and Stark Counties.
Those who need a ramp must submit an application. There is currently a wait list of nine requests.
The application can be found at https://www.rebuildingtogether-hc.org/ or by calling 309-288-4600.
