Coming Out of Quarantine – It Just Needs Done

August 31, 2020

Some things in life just happen, and you don’t see them coming. You get blindsided. 

As with most of our new friends here at Rebuilding Together Muscatine County, these things happen, leaving people not knowing where to turn for help.

This is one such story.

This man’s beloved wife, although really quite young, had a stroke, and after going to the hospital for treatment, other complications arose, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

Their home was not at all accessible at all for their newfound reality.

Not knowing where to turn, he called his friend State Senator Mark Lofgren.

Mark has stood behind Rebuilding Together Muscatine County since it’s inception, and in turn gave him information on how to contact us.

So after the contacts were made, the planning began in earnest.

Frank took one of our volunteers with him to visit the home, to see what needed to be done.

Not able to use the front door due to accessibility issues, it was determined that the ramp would need to go around to the back.

In order to keep in line with state and city codes, ramps need a certain amount of “drop” for each foot that they are tall.

These numbers caused this to be the biggest ramp ever created by Rebuilding Together Muscatine County.

RTMC uses a ramp system that does not typically need concrete footings.

Our ramps are such that when they are no longer needed, they are disassembled, and put back in storage to be used on other projects when the need arises.

Due to the size of this project, footings were mandatory – Friday was spent placing holes for the footings

Some of the volunteers had worked with us before and were well versed in what and how things needed to be done.

The ones who have never worked with us before came alongside and had a great learning experience.

This team was amazing; troopers all!

Typically, our food and snacks are provided for us by the local Pizza Ranch.

But on this day … this day the family of the folks we were building the ramp for, decided to provide everything we needed.

Ice cold water, sandwiches, cold salads, chips, drinks, and amazing desserts!

What a treat to have these things available all day to our team of volunteers.

Of course, not all volunteers could stay all day, so they kind of came in shifts, each staying as long as they were able.

We believe that if everyone does their part, then the whole job gets done!

There is always more to do on a job this size.

Some who were unable to help physically, took up donations to give to RTMC.

We do not charge for our work, but we never say no to donations either! 

At the end of the day, the entire ramp was installed.

Some volunteers will return next Saturday to install the handrails, and reinforcements underneath the structure.

Thank you to all who helped in ANY way!

We love helping our community, because “It Just Needs Done!”