NEWARK – School system officials took part in Governor Larry Hogan’s Day to Serve initiative by building a wheelchair ramp for a woman in need.
On Wednesday, Worcester County Board of Education employees partnered with Chesapeake Housing Mission to construct a wheelchair ramp at a home in Newark. The project gave the school system a chance to take part in the Day to Serve initiative, which runs from Sept. 11 to Oct. 10.
“We’re always asking the community to support us,” Superintendent Lou Taylor said. “This is a way for us to give back.”
Jessica McInerney, the school system’s Day to Serve coordinator, said officials had been eager to take part in the event. Because all students have to complete service learning before they graduate, she said educators wanted to show them that they could continue to serve their communities as adults.
“We believe everyone should do service,” she said.
Three shifts of fifteen central office employees and members of the school system’s executive leadership team spent the day at a home in Newark, building a wooden wheelchair ramp with the help of Chesapeake Housing Mission (CHM) representatives. CHM’s David Downes said the volunteer organization was started nine years ago by veterans of the Appalachia Service Project.
County school system employees are pictured working on the decking for a wheelchair ramp.
“We’d always do a local project to prepare students, to give them practical skills before the trip to Appalachia,” he said. “We decided we needed a more consistent presence locally.”
That’s when they created CHM. In the nine years since, they’ve completed more than 450 projects. They build a lot of wheelchair ramps but also help with leaks and floors. They’ve also helped make bathrooms and kitchens handicap accessible.
The group works with area agencies such as MAC and Bay Area Center for Independent Living to find less fortunate individuals in need of help.
“They know of physical and financial need,” Downes said.
Downes said CHM often partners with groups like Worcester. Downes and his team design the project, get any necessary permits and deliver supplies to the site.
“We try to get everything a volunteer group might need so a group can come out and in a single day tackle a project and complete it,” he said.
With his guidance, school system officials cleared bushes in the front of the house, built platforms, dug post holes and put up decking. They finished up by installing hand rails and spindles.
