Humble Service

How do you count to 500?  One number at a time, of course.

Here’s another not-a-trick question.

How do you build 500 metal wheelchair ramps that provide freedom of movement, independence, and a new lease on life for a disabled person? Same answer. One at a time.

That’s the story behind RampsRVA, a local non-profit created by Collegiate juniors Mike Dowd, Coleman Wortham, and Gray Fain in the summer of 2005 and which 16 years later continues to grow and flourish.

The story involves more than the one-at-a-time premise, however. It involves commitment and dedication, community awareness, team building, and an abiding desire to improve the quality of life for the beneficiaries who have heretofore spent their days isolated in their homes and dependent on caregivers any time they needed (or wanted) to go outside.

The story, then, is of a gift, bestowed humbly, that keeps on giving, not just for the recipient but for the donor and builder as well. 

“When we started, honestly, we were looking for a fun way to get our community service hours,” said Wortham, a financial advisor with Davenport & Co.  “We had done wheelchair ramps with Mike’s father (Jim Dowd) through another organization (Elder Homes, Inc). We got ahold of the idea, but no way did we think it would still be going strong 16 years later.”

It is, though, and on May 27, the organization – originally called RAMPS, an acronym for Ramp Access Made Possible by Students – constructed its 500th access ramp for a family in the Laurel neighborhood of Henrico County.  

“It really comes down to the cause we’re supporting and the impact it can make so quickly on someone’s life,” said Dowd, the director of asset management for McCann Realty Partners and, like Wortham, a member of the RampsRVA board. “We started so small. It’s amazing that we’ve gotten to his point over the years. It’s easy for us to talk about building ramps, but it’s another thing when the recipient actually comes down the ramp, and you can see their emotion as they’re thanking everyone.

“We take for granted being able to walk out the door every day and go outside. For these folks, it’s getting back some semblance of normalcy in their lives. Whatever their situation is, they’ve been confined to the four walls of their house, and the ramp provides the ability to tend to their garden or go see their neighbors or just be part of the community again.”

RampsRVA is a 501(c)3 entity which relies on donations from individuals and corporate sponsors to purchase the modular ramps ranging in cost from $3,000 to $4,000 and volunteer groups to assemble them. Some ramps are disassembled and reconstructed in different locations multiple times until they are retired.

Over the years, more than 1,500 volunteers have contributed upwards of 5,000 service hours. The network now includes 27 high school, college, and business groups in Central Virginia. The Collegiate chapter continues to be well-subscribed and active and in 2017 constructed its 100th ramp. 

“We couldn’t have built 500 ramps without the volunteers we’ve had over the years as well as donors,” Dowd said. “Everyone ‘gets it’ pretty quickly once they participate in a build, and that keeps the volunteer base coming back. It’s not something you really think about until maybe a family member has to deal with something like this and you understand the impact that being stuck inside your house can have on someone.”

While the construction of the 500th ramp is a significant landmark, it’s certainly not a destination. The need is ever-present. The passion to serve never wanes. The work continues.
 

“The night before the 500th build, I realized that 500 ramps is about two million dollars of equipment that we’ve installed for people in Richmond,” Wortham said. “That’s hard to believe. When you look at it that way, it’s like, we actually might have accomplished something, even in the smallest possible way.”
~Weldon Bradshaw