A surprise from her family has made Snoqualmie resident Becky Schandel’s life a lot easier. On Saturday, May 21, members and volunteers with the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties came to Snoqualmie to build a easy access ramp for wheelchairs onto Schandel’s house as part of their Rampathon program.
Rampathon is the organization’s annual event to build wheelchair-access ramps for people in need throughout King and Snohomish Counties.
Aaron Adelstein, director of programs for the Master Builders, said the program is a yearly collaboration by builders to help people who don’t have the resources to make their homes wheelchair accessible.
“We fit builders with the skills and desire to help the community and match them with families (who) have a mobility need but not the resources,” he said. “All the building is done on one Saturday a year. This is the 23rd year we have done it and we had a record 37 ramps built.”
Schandel, who has lived with multiple sclerosis for 30 years, said she was having trouble getting up and down the steps to her house. Hearing this, her sister and brother-in-law registered her for the program without her knowledge.
“Somebody came and measured my house and were out here taking pictures and said it was for the Rampathon,” Schandel said. “My sister said ‘We submitted your name and didn’t know if you had been picked or not.'”
The builder captain reached out to the family or applicant a few weeks before the event, to arrange visits and figure out how best to build it, Adelstein said. The Master Builders organize the applications they receive by geography in order to match them with volunteers.
“We find the best fit for what our volunteers have the ability to achieve,” he said.
Schandel’s surprise gave way to excitement as she realized that improved access to her home would give her more independence in her daily life and allow her a more mobile lifestyle.
“I was very excited and I told (my sister) ‘I can’t believe it is going to happen. It’s going to be so nice to not have to wait for somebody to help me,'” Schandel said. “I’m just very happy my sister and brother-in-law thought of me in this way. I think it’s for me and my mom both. My mom is 75 years old and not having to lift down a wheelchair all the time is good for her. We keep a wheelchair in her car and I keep one on the deck. Not having to do that is going to mean so much.”
