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To the MBA, the MBA Care Foundation and the Rampathon Committee: For myself and on behalf of my sons, Cole and Ryan, I would like to express my tremendous appreciation and gratitude for the help extended to me and my family through the Rampathon project. Had the project simply been a ramp, the assitance would have been a godsend. However, what we experienced was much more than a ramp building project. The extra effort put forth and the generousity and kindness behind the effort will be remembered to the end of my days. As some of you know, your volunteers not only built a ramp more complex than most but built a driveway extension and parking pad that allows the best access possible to the ramp. They provided and installed a door that allows us to use the deck door as our main entrance to our home. They painted interior portions of the home with colors we selected. They cleaned, weeded and hauled off yard debris. They thought to include motion-activated lighting on the new drive and ramp. Significant extras were also noted such as fixing a broken garden gate, providing storage containers for the boys’ clothes and toys, and reinstalling their basketball hoop. My children got a lousy deal in life. Both have cerebral palsy as a result of their premature birth. Not being able to walk places severe, if not cruel, limits on their access to and interaction with most environments. I have always tried to maximize their developmental experiences by accessing as much of the outdoor world as possible. Trips to the beach and looking for bugs are favorites of the children. Yet as they grew this became much more of a chore. Simply exiting and entering the house meant carrying each boy and their wheelchairs up and down 16 stairs. Our outings began to take so much physical effort that I dreaded lifting them back into the house. Due to the boys’ growth, my car became inadequate to transport them and in November we purchased a much needed van. This left little in the budget to pursue my idea of a raised ramp to the back door. Then I heard about Rampathon through a support group I attend for fathers of special needs children. Through your efforts, and all who so generously donated their time, labor, money and materials, my children and I will be able to remain in our home and have easy wheelchair entry and exit. Best of all, the boys, especially Ryan, will have the freedom that most people take for granted; going in and out of the house as they please. I wish you all could have seen the excitement on Ryan’s face as he went down the ramp and began to understand how “cool” it was going to be. Still, I don’t even think he knows the extent to which his world has expanded. The ramp was a critical need and would not have happened without your help. I cannot thank you and all those involved enough. I would like to give special thanks to Mike Elkins and Chuck Russell at Westhill Inc., for their willingness to take on the project and the Rampathon committee for moving it forward.
John Hribernick |