Transition of Ramp Up Co-Chairs

Bill Pogge (right) reviews ramp
plans with Ray Nowaczyk

Ramp Up Marathon County has always intentionally involved a diversity of individuals in its leadership team, including two co-chairs, one representing an organization who provides referrals and the other who is a "private citizen" volunteer.

This summer saw a Ramp Up Marathon County leadership transition.

Bill Pogge, a volunteer who had served as co-chair with Erin Wells (Aging and Disability Resource Center Community Resources Manager) for the Ramp Up leadership team stepped down to focus on work with Faith in Action’s Senior Home Safety Program and other personal interests.

Bill was an instrumental part of conceptualizing and actualizing Ramp Up. He wrote much of the by-laws, headed the work with funders and fiscal partners, and helped on site at the project builds. We sincerely thank Bill for all of his hard work and wish him all the best.

Mike Sydow

Mike Sydow has stepped into Bill’s former position, with Wells continuing as co-chair.

After 26 years as Marathon County Register of Deeds, Mike retired in January of 2017. When Ray Nowaczyk, a longtime friend of Mike’s and member of the Ramp Up leadership team, learned that the co-chair position would be vacant by mid-summer, he suggested that Mike check it out.

“I was more than wanting to be involved for quite a while,” Mike recalled. “I didn’t expect to be co-chair right away, but it’s OK.”

An interest in building runs in Mike’s family. His dad was always remodeling something or other, one brother is a builder and another is a building inspector.

But Mike has a special understanding of the need for ramps. He has been using a wheelchair since 1975 when he suffered a broken neck during a water skiing accident.

According to Mike, “It’s important for anyone with a disability to be able to get in and out of their home for work, medical appointments and social activities.”

And that’s just what the work that Ramp Up Marathon County does by funding and building ramps and specialized stairs for lower income Marathon County residents.

For more information about Ramp Up Marathon County, go to www.RampUpMC.org. 

Ramp Up Thanks Wausau Tile!

Ramp Up Marathon County volunteer Dick Keding recently worked with Wausau Tile to coordinate a donation of fifty 12x12 pavers. These pavers will come in handy to provide transition at the end of some ramps and possibly as footers under the posts. Thank you Wausau Tile! Thank you Dick Keding!

Wausau Tile

 

Ramp Up Thanks the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin!

Ramp Up Marathon County received a Community Enhancement Grant of $4,900.00 from the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin. This one-time grant was used to purchase and equip a trailer and purchase some needed construction tools.

By receiving this grant and purchasing a trailer and tools, we are able to broaden our volunteer base because they will no longer be required to provide their own tools. The trailer also provides a secure, efficient, weather-safe means to store and transport our tools and general building materials.

A local church will let us park the trailer in their parking lot during the building season. A volunteer will provide off-season covered and secure storage on property outside of the Wausau metro area.

Community Founation of North Central Wisconsin

Thank You Notes From Ramp Recipients

"To all the wonderful volunteers:

You give so much of yourself in the kindness you show and the lives you touch. That's why you deserve a heartfelt "thank you" and a wish that all the goodness you share comes back to you.
Thank you so  much for all your time and talent to make a wheelchair ramp possible for me!"
Fred M.

 "Now I can sit in my walker outside, get to the doctor and get my blood tested. I couldn't get down the steps before."
Leonard P.

"The ramp is wonderful. I can go down it by myself. On stairs I needed help."
Joyce G.

Knowlton Ramp Completed June 15, 2016

We finished our most recent ramp on June 15, 2016 for a family in Knowlton. We were able to use sections of a ramp we reclaimed when the original owner in Wausau no longer needed it. It worked beautifully for this site. The color of the stain on the reclaimed ramp was even a close match to the existing deck of the new ramp owner. Sometimes things just work out that way. Yeah!

Here are some photos of the build. (Thanks to John Ohnstad and Bill Pogge for the photos.)

Many Thanks to Our Funders and Volunteers!

Ramp Up Marathon County is run by volunteers. While there are no paid staff there is a growing group of caring and talented individuals dedicated to helping people those with financial need and mobility issues in Marathon County gain safe entry access to their homes. These people donate untold hours to review applications, select projects that fit all the criteria, estimate costs and manage budgets, write grant applications, plan, design and build projects and more.

But the giving doesn't stop there.

We also have some very generous organizations and individuals who donate funds to cover the costs of materials to build ramps and low-rise, long-tread steps. The community heroes include the B.A. and Esther Greenheck Foundation, the Aspirus Health Foundation and Thrivent Financial Services. Several individuals have also donated funds to help our projects along.

No one of us could do all this on our own, but together, we pool our resources and work together to make our community a little safer for our neighbors in the greatest need.

Thank you to all our funders and volunteers!!

Comment From the Daughter of a Recent Project Recipient

"I was just on the phone with my mother. She REALLY LIKES HER NEW STEPS! You should hear the excitement in her voice.
 
If you go out next week, just ask her how she likes them. I think you're in to listen to a song bird.

Again, I can't tell you how much we appreciate the steps and all you guys that designed and installed them."

-M-

EDITOR'S NOTE: M's mother was having trouble using the steps at her house, but she didn't need or want a full ramp. The solution? A set of low-rise-long-tread steps custom built by our volunteers. Instead of the typical 7" or 8" rise per step, these specialized steps have a 3" to 4" rise, and are deep enough to allow an individual to set their walker fully on the step before he or she steps up.