Nearly every Thursday morning, a group of 10 to 12 men from the First Baptist Church Ramp Ministry don matching red or neon yellow shirts and travel to the home of someone in need in Elbert County.
For the past 10 years, the group has been building ramps for those with physical handicaps or those who need an easier route to enter their home.
On Feb. 25, the group reached a milestone as they built their 500th ramp.
Richey Eckler, who goes out and evaluates homes and then designs the ramps to best fit a person’s specific needs, said the group originally started as a project from the Rotary Club of Elberton and was only for First Baptist Church members.
In 2013, the group moved its first ramp from Ed Shive’s home to the home of Bill and Karma McMullen by tractor trailer and remodeled it to fit the McMullen’s needs, according to a proclamation from Mayor Daniel Graves.
A total of three ramps were donated in 2013 and the current group was asked over the years to take the ministry over.
“We said we’d try and see what happened and we’ve been seeing what happened now for 10 years,” Eckler said.
The original group was building around one ramp a month and has now developed to the current crew building around one ramp a week, year-round, with the goal of doing 50 a year. The group has dedicated Thursdays to building, unless the weather forces them to reschedule to an occasional Friday or Tuesday.
The process starts when a person in need contacts the First Baptist Church office and Eckler does an evaluation. Due to the vast number of people on the list, Eckler says it may be weeks or months before they may get their ramp built, but that he also works to make accommodations to best fit people in.
The group is fully dependent on donations, and Eckler said they “try never to build a ramp unless [having] the funds to cover it beforehand.”
“They never get a bill from us. We never charge anybody,” Eckler said. “If they ask, we tell them what it costs. If they don’t ask, we don’t tell them. We get donations from strangers. I got a donation one time from a church in Kansas City, Kansas. People stop me on the street and give me a $100. We never have run out of money. We’re in as good financial shape as we’ve ever been.”
Eckler and ramp member Larry Gilham said a significant help in having funds covered for the ramps comes from working with Lake Russell Building Supply, who gives the group a discount on the materials.
“They really take care of us. They bring the lumber out, if we have something leftover, they’ll come and pick it up,” Gilham said.
While Eckler will sketch more complicated ramps, like the 500th ramp that was around 51 feet long and had a turn/landing, and send it out to the members beforehand, the group doesn’t meet beforehand to hand out duties for the day.
“The proof of the pudding is. We’ve done 500 ramps,” Eckler said. “There’s two or three guys that love to dig holes. There’s two or three guys that love to do the decking. There’s two or three guys that do all the handrails. If we get in the way of each other, we just sit down because there’s enough of us to keep going.”
The group consists of members of First Baptist Church along with members of other churches around the area. Eckler said all members of the group are retired and work around their own health struggles, doctor’s appointments and other events going on at home.
Members inlcude Asberry Dunn, Bill Palmer, Bobby Jones, Bridget Walsh, Charlie Roberts, Chris Smith, Don Fortson, Harley Thomas, James Adams, Jeff Lyle, Jerry Self, Jim Stephens, Keith Madden, Kyle Branan, Kyle Brown, Larry Gillham, Richie Eckler, Sam Pagett, Steve Hall, Steve Howe, Steve Rousey, Tim Adams and William Loggins.
Jones, at 88, is the group’s oldest member.
“The next challenge is, we’ve got to build ramps for everybody on the team,” Gilham laughed.
During the only break the group took while building the 500th ramp, Graves visited to present the proclamation for the group’s achievement and named Feb. 23 as “First Baptist Church Ramp Ministry Day.”
“We’ve got a lot of churches in this town and a lot of Christians, but the proof is in the pudding,” Graves said to the group. “It’s where you put your time, it’s where you put your money. In a world of bad news, this is some of the best news ever.”
According to the proclamation, the group has completed a total 17,112.75 feet of ramps, the equivalent of 3.24 miles, at a total cost of $411,120.45.
Within two to three hours of beginning the project, the group swarmed and cleaned up the area. Their 500th ramp took them just under three hours to complete.
“What’s really neat, I think, is that we have a good time doing it. It’s good fellowship. We look forward to coming to the ramp. There’s an occasional disagreement, but it’s a good group of guys,” Gilham said.
“If you want to call it service or washing other people’s feet, as Daniel said, helping the humble. It’s hard to go down the road in Elbert County and not see one,” Eckler echoed. “We enjoy every minute of it. We’ve been blessed.”