Inclined to Do Good

Photograph by Jim West

In Monroe County, Mich., labor-union members have joined together with a local United Way to build ramps at the homes of disabled people.

Building a ramp that makes it easy for disabled people to go in and out of their homes can cost as much as $5,000. Many families in the county that borders Lake Erie can’t afford that, but one week each year the labor for those services is donated by members of the local affiliates of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and the Laborers International Union of North America.

“Project Ramp” was started 10 years ago as a partnership between the two unions and the United Way of Monroe County. The partnership has constructed ramps for more than 100 families in the area, as well as for a local homeless shelter and a shelter for battered women.

While the labor is donated, the money for the building materials and other program costs comes from the Michigan state government, the United Way chapter, and other donors.

The ramps “have literally changed the lives” of the recipients, says Gerald Hesson, a spokesman for the group. “I have seen so much emotion, and there is nothing like it when the volunteers see at the end of the day what the ramp means — not only to the person with the physical challenge but also to their caregiver.”

The partnership has also had other benefits, through its efforts to recruit kids who have broken the law and other troubled youths to work with the carpenters to build the ramps: Some of those young adults have gone on to become apprentices and, eventually, carpenters.

Here, William Fountain, a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, helps assemble a ramp for Brian McDonald.