Building wheelchair ramps for community members has many benefits, including training youth and adults as potential Volunteers in Missions (VIM) team members, energizing a cooperative parish or annual conference, and increasing disability awareness as volunteers interact with ramp recipients.  Many current ramp teams trace their ministry to "Takin' it to the Streets", an annual blitz building events sponsored by the Louisiana Annual Conference VIM leaders four to twelve years ago. VIM coordinator Rev. Larry Norman partnered with local churches and solicited volunteers from throughout the conference for weekend events which ended with Sunday worship.  In the second year 300 workers built 33 ramps in New Orleans.  The conference no longer holds the blitz, but at least eight regional groups continue to build ramps.

Greg Forrester, NE Jurisdiction VIM coordinator, attended one of the LA events.  A partner organization in his town of Cortland NY alerted him to the need for ramps.  His group initially built each ramp from scratch to meet specifications, but realized the benefit of a modular design that could be quickly installed and easily taken apart and recycled when the original user no longer needed it.  The Ramp Plans are available on the NE VIM website along with a liability release form.  Greg provides training throughout his jurisdiction and beyond, including a session at the Nomads national gathering after Hurricane Katrina.  He emphasizes the need for building relationships as well as ramps.
 

"Ramps of Hope" is a ministry inspired by Greg's work and initiated in the Erie County area of the Western Pennsylvania AC by Deacon Debbie Hills.  Once aware of the need for ramps, she began assessing assets available, and found donated storage and assembly space in an old school, some seed money, and a group of churches struggling to engage in joint ministry.  She located a local agency, Love Inc., to determine need and eligibility, and spread the word through area social service agencies.  Funds for building materials come from grants, donations, fund raisers, and recipients or family members.  She checks the local building codes and need for permits and inspection, and notes a wide variation in codes and interpretation.  Ramp modules are built in advance and stored, then installed when needed.  The ministry has five team leaders and a food coordinator who organizes meals which are shared with the recipient family.  She and other make intake and follow-up visits, asking about unmet needs and remembering families with holiday baskets. In the context of establishing relationships, when the time is right (and if they do not have a home church) families are invited to attend the nearest UM church.  Since April 2010 volunteers have built 21 ramps. 
 

Debbie Wade, Task Force secretary, coordinates "R.A.M.P." (Reaching Accessibility for all Methodist Persons and Places) for the North Alabama AC.  Recipients do not have to be United Methodist.  In addition to ramps, churches and individuals have been assisted to install bathrooms, chairlifts, and elevators.  Some projects only need funding, while conference volunteers help build others. A retired engineer who happens to have a disability draws up most of the plans. Unique features include fund raising through a Conference Advance Special and through the conference Bridge Builders program for congregations committed to being active in disability ministry.  

Further guidance regarding ramp specifications is available through the US Access Board.  Check the Task Force web site for a more detailed article (coming soon) with step by step guidelines for starting a ramp building ministry.



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Missouri AC                                                                             Sunday, August 14th 3:00pm

UM Regional Disability Awareness Service

Worship Theme: "Christ Invites all to the Table"

You are invited to stand and sit as a community in solidarity to celebrate the gifts and graces of people with disabilities, and to affirm those who have been called to serve in leadership roles and the ordained ministry.  We gather as a socially conscious church to encourage all to work for the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the Church Universal and in our society.  The service is designed to help put action to the words: Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors.

Location: Manchester UMC, 129 Woods Mill Rd., St. Louis, MO 63011

For more information contact Rev. Russell Ewell 

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