Texas Ramp Project to use CCF grant to help others
Duane Compton, Texas Ramp coordinator for Cooke, Fannin and Grayson counties (third from left) joins Beverly Ford, regional coordinator for other North Central Texas counties (center) to accept a $9,000 CoServ Charitable Foundation grant from (left to right) CoServ District 4 Board Director Clint Bedsole and District 1 Board Director Richard Muir, Senior Vice President of Information Systems Stacia Sims and Senior Vice President of Operations Jody Forman. (Photo by Dawn Cobb)
A $9,000 grant from the CoServ Charitable Foundation will be used to provide at least 12-14 free ramps for those in need across North Texas.
The Texas Ramp Project, established in 2006, operates with 30 regional groups across the state who have built more than 6,450 ramps.
Six counties within the CoServ Service Area generated 298 referrals last year and an additional 140 so far this year. Volunteers built 166 ramps in 2014 and plan to build more than 200 in 2015.
The average cost per ramp is $600 to install with donated labor. In contrast, the cost of accommodating an uninsured client in a nursing home in Texas can be up to $60,000 per year or more, according to officials with the Texas Ramp Project.
The grant will help the organization to help those in need expand their mobility to and from their homes – whether they use a walker or a wheelchair.
“You just don’t know how much these things help,” said Beverly Ford, regional coordinator for a number of North Central Texas groups, who accepted the check alongside Duane Compton, the coordinator for Cooke, Fannin and Grayson counties.
Since 2003, CCF has distributed more than $6.4 million in grants to more than 200 non-profits, civic organizations and social service agencies in over 55 North Texas communities.