The Good News

Note To Our Supporters

Many thanks for the groups that helped complete seven full-house repaints in the last couple of months. These are BIG houses and without volunteer help we simply could not accomplish all that we did.

Thanks to First Friends Church, ProVia, Malone University students, Little Flock Fellowship Church, St. Stephen Martyr Lutheran Church, Woodlawn Church, the North Canton Chapel, RiverTree Christian Church and the Community Church of Portage Lakes. The efforts of these volunteers amounts to approximately $70,000 worth of labor and a million dollars worth of goodwill.

WheelChair Ramps

This is the Summer of the Wheelchair Ramp. Thanks to the magic of Craigslist, E-Bay, and various social media sites we have ‘discovered’ a way to make a dent in the ever-increasing requests for wheelchair ramps. We have shifted our focus from ramps constructed of treated lumber to modular aluminum ramps. The time savings on a ramp installation can amount to a week or more per ramp. So why didn’t we use aluminum ramps prior to this summer? Prohibitive Cost! At approximately $125 per foot the average ramp, with rails, legs, and joining hardware, would easily push past the $5,000 level. Throw in resting and turn platforms for difficult sites and/or longer ramps and that figure could easily double. You might be wondering how we can afford to switch to aluminum….the answer is the used ramp market. There are a surprising number of folks who no longer require a ramp so they post them online for sale. We take some time each week to scour the internet in search of ramps that we can afford. We have been able to secure and install a ramp for a 6 year old boy who has been confined to a wheelchair for life. Just last week we installed a ramp for a gentleman in his early 60’s who suffered his first of a dozen strokes when he was just 24 years old. As much as he appreciates the ramp, his wife appreciates it even more. She was at the point where she was suffering physical damage to her own body as she continued to assist with her husband’s mobility.

Sincerest thanks to The Abner & Esther Yoder Charitable Foundation and Standard Printing for providing the funds for these ramps.

Visit our website