Facebook request brings help for woman in need of wheelchair ramp

A woman’s request for help building a wheelchair ramp at her Weiser home was answered by three individuals who came together to make the project happen.

 Cecilia Rodriguez posted on Facebook that she needed a ramp to her front door so she could get her electric wheelchair inside and out of the weather. She was forced to park it outside under a tarp without any way to get it inside.

 She asked a few people to help her, but they never showed up to do the work and she was getting desperate.

 Her Facebook post was viewed by Sharon McKinzie, who told her son Eli Luna about it. Eli, who is also in a wheelchair, understood the young woman’s plight and began asking around to see if anyone could help out. 

 “I wanted to help so she wasn’t stuck in the house,” he said. “She needed a way in and out for emergency purposes.”

 It didn’t take long before Eli was able to find some people interested in assisting with the project. He enlisted the help of a neighbor, Richard Coronado, and a friend and former contractor Aric Barto, who lives in Payette.

 Coronado is a member of the Weiser Elks Lodge and he gathered a list of what was needed for the wheelchair ramp and brought it up at an Elks meeting. He was able to secure a donation of $295 from the Elks for materials. 

 “I got the check to them right away so they could get started,” he said.

 Coronado also asked Western Timber, where he has worked for 27 years, if the company could help out with wood. The company came through with a donation of $170 worth of lumber to build part of the  ramp.

 A former contractor, Barto had built a wheelchair ramp for Eli previously and was more than willing to build a ramp for Rodriguez. All that was needed was the wood and materials and his labor. When they were donated, he was able to do the ramp construction in an afternoon. 

 They wanted to do it right away and before any bad weather. He finished the ramp on Nov. 17.

 “They had all the materials. I just showed up and banged it together. I was glad I could do it,” Barto said.

 Barto belongs to the Rolling Iron motorcycle club in Payette and they do charity work to raise funds for people dealing with cancer, he said.

 He gave Luna credit for organizing the effort to get Rodriguez a ramp that now goes from her front door to the driveway.

 Rodriguez’s family said Cecilia was grateful for the help from everyone involved in the ramp project. 

 She was starting to get depressed about having to leave her wheelchair outside, they said. 

 She can now get in and out of her home with ease and keep the wheelchair safe inside and out of the weather.