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Day of Caring Profile: Ramping Up to Help the Homebound

“I enjoy it—it’s as simple as that,” said Dennis Mick, a retired 3M employee who now spends his free time building wheelchair ramps. “I like working with my hands and I like seeing the immediate results.”




Mick will be just one of hundreds of volunteers using their hands to help others on Friday, April 23 during the United Way Spring Day of Caring. This event offers opportunities for community volunteers to lend a hand in tackling issues such as poverty, education and health—doing everything from building homes to delivering meals to beautifying community parks.

Through his work with the Texas Ramps project, Mick will lead volunteers in projects during this year’s Day of Caring.

To sign-up for the Day of Caring, visit www.handsoncentraltexas.org and register for a project.

Mick says there are numerous people in the community who are homebound due to their inability to negotiate stairs because they must rely upon a walker or wheelchair. In about 5 hours, Mick and his team of volunteers can complete a ramp giving new freedom to those who need it.




In late February, Mick and a team of volunteers from the Northwest Kiwanis built a wheelchair ramp for Janet, who lives with her husband in a mobile home near Manor. Janet had undergone surgery several days earlier to relieve symptoms from spinal stenosis which had left her paralyzed. Her husband, Steve, said he was very pleased that his wife could return home after more than five months of treatment in the hospital.



Mick said it’s gratifying how to see how much the ramps mean to people. “One woman had not left her home in three months,” said Mick. “She wanted to go to church as that was very important to her. After we completed the ramp, she asked to see me. She said she didn’t have much and then told me to back my chair up and she gave me the best back rub I’ve ever had.”

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