As we’ve all had to spend more time in our homes to stay safe, we should have more empathy with those whose everyday life is confined to their home because of a disability.
Chuck Wood is a disabled war veteran who has been confined to his home in California for two years because of steps outside his home preventing him from leaving.
Now the 83-year-old, who served as a Coast Guard for four years during the Cold War, is able to leave his house for the first time after a ramp was built outside his home.
Volunteers, from a California-based non-profit, Veterans of All War Riders (VAWR), built the ramp so Chuck can easily leave his home.
But Chuck was skeptical when volunteers showed up as he’s requested a ramp on a number of occasions but hadn’t been successful.
“He was not too excited when we showed up,” said the president of the non-profit VAWR Richard Randall.
“I said, ‘Look, Chuck, we’re here. We’re not going nowhere. And if we say we’re going to build you a ramp, we’re going to build you a ramp,'” Randall told Fox News.
Wood has been using a wheelchair ever since he lost one of his legs because of a blood clot.
Chuck said he was delighted with his new ramp.
“It’s great to go out, get some sun, go check my mail. It’s been kind of hard because I couldn’t get out of here for two years,” he added.
The non-profit, which was also able to give the disabled veteran a new electric wheelchair, used donations from a GoFundMe page to cover some of the costs.
“This wheelchair ramp couldn’t have been built without the generous donation from Home Depot who donated all of the building materials for the project,” the organization wrote in a statement.
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