100 Miles of Freedom and counting

It is the season for giving and one local organization helped a local family on Saturday morning with a much needed project.

Members of the First United Methodist Church of Fairfield and First United Methodist Church of Mexia built a 45 foot ramp in Teague on Saturday morning, December 5, as part of the “100 Miles of Freedom” project.

The nonprofit Texas Ramp Project celebrated the installation of 100 miles of wheelchair ramps delivered completely free to nearly 20,000 recipients across the state. “100 Miles of Freedom” is a milestone in the nonprofit’s commitment to helping older adults and people with disabilities regain mobility. It was achieved thanks to the dedication of more than 3,500 volunteers. If the ramps were laid end to end, there would be more than enough to travel from Dallas to Waco.

Men and women of all ages a n d even children were helping build the ramp in Teague on Saturday morning. They were all working together with a plan and were able to complete the ramp in approximately four hours.

“It is a way for us to share the love of Christ with people in our community,” leader Steve Grecu said. “It brings us together and we also get to meet volunteers from other communities. It opens the door for us to meet others in our community.”

The Texas Ramp Project began operations in 2006 as an evolution from the Dallas Ramp Project. The nonprofit builds ramps across the state of Texas to serve those in financial need. The ramps are provided without regard to age, gender, religion, race or ethnicity. Every ramp provides safety, independence and an improved quality of life for its recipient, caregivers and family.

Most ramps cost from $700-$800 to build, which is about one-third that of a typical retail contractor installation.

The Texas Ramp Project is able to keep costs low because all construction is done by volunteers.

The ramps are always free to clients.