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Newsletter
Volume 6, Issue 1
January 2024
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It Was a Banner Year: TRP Sets Records | |
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Just a few weeks ago a plea went out to coordinators to enter their 2023 builds. We were approaching 2,300 and wanted to top that figure if we could. Response was overwhelming, and as of January 1 total builds had topped 2,407! That was a 25% increase over 2022 and represented nearly 13 miles of ramps.
This year’s strong builds brought to 26,200 the number of clients served since 1985, when the organization was created as the Dallas Ramp Project. You might recall that TRP hit the 20,000 ramp milestone at the end of 2020, when we celebrated construction of 100 miles of ramps. Then this summer volunteers built TRP’s 25,000th ramp. We are now at nearly 134 miles of ramps, and every new ramp you build adds to that total.
And there’s more! Referrals jumped to 6,609, up 32%. Volunteer hours totaled 63,300, a 22% increase and near $1.8 million in-kind value. The number of counties in which ramps were built rose to 134 from 123 last year. (See map of counties where ramps were provided in 2023.) And revenues rose 31%, to $2,366,212, an all-time high. Only five regions ended 2023 in the red, a deficit of less than $10,000 and another record.
The largest source of funding in 2023 was foundations, charities and trusts, at over $1.2 million. Businesses contributed $226,000, civic organizations including United Way $157,700, and churches $139,000. Fee for service payments were $144,800, mainly from Area Agencies on Aging, Fair Housing Centers and Habitat for Humanity. Board members are working on increasing these payments and very much appreciate coordinators’ assistance in invoicing agencies to obtain their reimbursements.
Most amazing of all is individual donations. In 2023 TRP received over $273,600 in donations from just ordinary people who have responded to the TRP story. So much of this is due to our coordinators and volunteers, whose passion and commitment to our work are rewarded by their families, friends and co-workers. They know their donations directly touch people’s lives.
Last year TRP board members and talented volunteers took on projects to streamline many of TRP’s processes. We have created and published a Building Basics manual, thanks to Roy Harrington. We are working to streamline the invoice process for credit card holders. We are creating a spreadsheet that will show in an instant the relative health of each region. We have a year’s worth of data in a new survey of clients to see how they and their families are faring with their ramps. And a team is looking at making data entry and analysis in Salesforce more useful, efficient and intuitive.
Yes, 2023 was a banner year for the Texas Ramp Project. The momentum created in 2023 will move us into 2024 with a solid balance sheet and a desire to keep serving Texas’s vulnerable residents who live every day with mobility issues. Over 77% of all clients are age 60 and above, and TRP is there for them.
You are there for them. Thank you.
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2023 has also brought changes to staff, the board of directors and regional management. John Laine, TRP founder and executive director since 2006, retired at the end of last year. John was part of the Kiwanis group that built the very first ramp in 1985 and devoted nearly 40 years of his life to helping people with disabilities achieve a safe way to get out of their homes.
Garner McNett, who served as TRP president for seven years and on the board over 13 years, retired in May. Both of these men had key roles in building TRP to the strong and respected organization it is today.
Filling these shoes are Sandra Knutson as interim executive director and Keith Henderson as president of the board. Sandra was an original TRP board member in 2006 and wrote the initial grants to get us started. She moved away but returned to the board in 2015 and was elevated to director of administration in 2019.
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Keith Henderson was elected to the board in early 2023 and quickly assumed the leadership position. A former telecom executive, he handles contracts and insurance as well as numerous policy initiatives. Between Sandy and Keith, our hard-working board of directors, and so many key volunteers across the state who provide their time and expertise, the Texas Ramp Project remains in good hands.
New regional coordinators also stepped up: Henry Wyckoff in Amarillo, Thomas Davis in Austin South, Jay Koska in Corpus Christi, Wayne Williams in East Texas Emory, Linda and Lindsey Shields in East Texas Longview, Scott Badger in San Antonio Central, Jim Aldridge in Texarkana East, and Pete Carey in Texoma.
Thank you Gregg Hinders, Kay Geurin, Jason Surdy, Tom Lewis, George Swarner and Duane Compton for your past and continuing support of the Texas Ramp Project.
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TRP’s region coordinators really have it together. Not only are they handling referrals, doing surveys, managing purchasing and warehousing, and recruiting volunteers, they are overseeing an ever-increasing amount of ramp construction. This is how TRP attained record builds in 2023 and increased total builds by 25%.
Leading the pack with most builds was once again the Dallas region, with 363 in Dallas and Collin counties. Other century-club regions were Amarillo with 156, San Antonio Central 149, Austin Central 115, Waco South 112, East Texas Tyler 108, and Bryan/College station 102. All these regions ended the year with a healthy funding balance to move into 2024.
There is another story, however, and that is improvement over 2022. Several regions doubled or nearly doubled their prior year’s builds. A prime example is Amarillo, which went from 79 builds in 2022 to 156 in 2023, thanks to the arrival of Henry Wyckoff and his Lions Club connections. McAllen increased its builds from 26 to 63, mainly because of Alan Moore’s hosting and leading a hardworking mission group for several weeks during Texas’s brutal summer.
Texarkana East went from 35 to 73 builds with the arrival of Jim Aldridge in Bowie County and continuing efforts of Pete Schroeder in Cass and Morris counties. Texarkana West went from 16 to 39 ramps when George Tenberge joined Tom Nuchols. East Texas Van Zandt hit its stride with an increase from 13 to 32 under Richard Graves, while East Texas Jacksonville under Jerry Halpain added 25 additional builds to beat 2022’s totals 48 to 23.
These are just a few of the go-getters who contributed to TRP’s 2023 success. We might also mention that many coordinators are actively raising funding for their regions, either by writing grants, giving presentations, encouraging their churches and civic organizations do donate, and carefully watching their balances. When they see funding getting low, they are hustling to find more money even when they declare that fundraising “is not their thing.” Now that is commitment!
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Volunteer of the Month: Frank Smith,
Austin East
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“I’m retired from collecting a paycheck, but I pretty much work every day as a volunteer.” That about sums up the current life of Frank Smith, a former educator who makes serving others the center of his universe. Luckily, he happened upon the Texas Ramp Project, where he serves as region coordinator of Austin East, which includes Colorado, Fayette and Lee counties.
James “Frank” Smith III is a life-long Texan. Born in Dallas, he graduated from Abilene Christian College and earned a Master’s at Baylor and Ph.D. at Texas A&M.
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He taught and coached in public and private schools before joining the faculty of St. Edward’s University in Austin. There he spent 28 years as a professor of kinesiology, dean for the school of education and associate dean of the university before retiring in 2017.
Since then his life has been filled with activities that serve his neighbors. He found the Texas Ramp Project after overhearing fellow church members talk about building a wheelchair ramp. He got involved and got hooked. After a few years then-region coordinator Bill Koenig asked Frank to take over, and at the end of 2020 Frank stepped into Bill’s shoes.
In Fayette County, Frank covers the gamut of the coordinator’s role, from receiving referrals and hauling lumber to writing grants and thank you letters to donors. Colorado and Lee counties have their own teams. Last year the three counties provided 62 ramps, a 29% increase from the prior year. The region raised over $36,000, almost every penny due to Frank’s efforts.
Frank follows a biblical directive that has driven his life: “We are the ‘hands and feet of Jesus Christ,’” he says. “He came to serve, not be served.” Frank says he loves the men and women he works with. “We are family of servants." We laugh and cry and pray together. We truly help others.”
Frank and his wife, Susan, live on property north of La Grange, where he tends cattle. They are long-time members of La Grange Church of Christ, where Frank has served as a deacon, Bible class teacher, song leader and occasional preacher. They have a married son and two grandchildren, ages 6 and 2.
Other ministries also benefit from Frank’s involvement. He serves weekly at the AMEN food pantry, leads an ecumenical Men’s Bible study, and umpires baseball and softball for the La Grange Little League. (He was a Southwest Conference baseball umpire in the 1980s.) When not otherwise occupied, he collects baseball and football cards and is into trains and railroads. He likes to walk along country roads, picking up trash for exercise and meditation. He also enjoys reading, crossword puzzles and Scrabble. And he loves to spoil his grandsons!
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Second Chance Donates $14,000 to Ramp Project
Second Chance Emporium (SCE) recently donated $14,000 to the Texas Ramp Project. Monies donated will be used to purchase treated lumber and hardware to build wheelchair ramps for eligible elderly and disabled Fayette County citizens. Pictured from left to right: J. Frank Smith, Texas Ramp Project-Austin East Regional Coordinator; Darlene Strahan, SCE Assistant Store Director; Marlene Schnell, SCE Assistant Store Director; and Gayle Schielack, SCE Store Director. -- Fayette County Record, January 23, 2024
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TRP Logo Grows Up with a Trademark
The Texas Ramp Project logos now all carry the TM for trademark. The tiny TM is as the end of the ramp. All the iterations of the logos are accessible on the TRP website under About Us, Brochures and Logos.
Texas Ramp Project Logos
Please note that the PNG and JPEG logos are best used for small format projects. Any signs, banners or other large format items will require the vector format files to maintain the quality of the logo.
Link to TRP website
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Recent Grants and Donations
Year-end brought additional funding to the Texas Ramp Project. December donations added up to $400,000, including large grants from St. David’s Foundation for Austin and the Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio. 2023 also saw a large concentration of donations from individuals in smaller regions such as Temple/Belton, Jacksonville, and Austin East and West and reimbursements from AAAs in Dallas and Texarkana East and West.
From mid-December through mid-January, TRP received the following funding:
- $81,000 for Austin Central, North and South from St. David’s Foundation.
- $25,000 for East Texas Van Zandt County from New Life Home Healthcare.
- $20,000 for Statewide from Carl C. Anderson, Sr., & Marie Jo Anderson Charitable Foundation.
- $20,000 for McAllen from Raul Tijerina Jr. Foundation.
- $20,000 for San Antonio Central from an anonymous individual donor.
- $10,410 for Statewide and Dallas from King of Glory Lutheran Church.
- $10,000 for Texarkana North from St. Joseph’s Community Foundation.
- $9,373 for Amarillo from Panhandle Gives.
- $7,500 for Dallas from M.B. & Edna Zale Foundation.
- $6,000 for East Texas Tyler from Tyson Properties.
- $6,000 for Dallas from Beck Community Development.
- $5,000 for Dallas from Stephen M. Seay Foundation.
- $5,000 for Texarkana North from Martha, David & Bagby Lennox Foundation.
- $5,000 for Wichita Falls from J.S. Bridwell Foundation.
- $4,998 for Dallas from Deloitte.
- $4,000 for Austin East from the Giddings Breakfast Lions Club.
- $4,000 for Austin North from Rotary Club of Georgetown.
- $3,000 for Amarillo from Josephine Anderson Charitable Trust.
- $2,500 for Abilene Scurry County from Big Country Electric Cooperative Trust.
- $2,460 for Houston from Montgomery County Habitat for Humanity.
- $2,236 for Waco South from Waco Habitat for Humanity.
- $2,000 for Bryan/College Station from St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.
- $2,000 for Dallas from Texas Instruments Foundation.
- $1,500 for Waco South from First United Methodist Church.
- $1,365 for Austin East from La Grange Church of Christ.
- $1,325 for Temple/Belton from Immanuel Lutheran Ministries.
- $1,000 for Houston from The Guild Shop of St. John the Divine.
- $1,000 for Bryan/College Station from Community Foundation of the Brazos Valley.
- $1,000 for Victoria North from Westside Sporting Grounds, Inc.
- $600 for East Texas Tyler from Ed and Mary Heath Foundation.
- $500 for Austin East from Round Top State Bank.
- $500 for Austin East from Fayette Community Foundation.
- $500 for Wichita Falls from Operation Ramp It Up.
- $350 for Austin West from The Church at Horseshoe Bay.
- $300 for Austin West from Hill Country Fellowship.
- $200 for Abilene Brown County from Longhorn Auto Sales.
- $100 for East Texas Tyler from Langen/Wink Bible Class.
- $45 for East Texas Tyler from Garden Valley Baptist Church.
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Healthcare Service Funds Van Zandt Region | |
Staff at New Life Home Healthcare in Wills Point (shown above) arranged a $25,000 donation for TRP’s team in East Texas Van Zandt County. The poster was prepared by Vanessa Baker, who not only administers TRP’s Salesforce database of build reports but also reaches out for funding in the region where she volunteers. The grant will have a far-reaching impact on Van Zandt’s volunteers and clients. Region coordinator Richard Graves sends a big thank you to New Life Home Healthcare for their generous and caring heart. | |
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Ramp of the Month, Austin Central
Travis County
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Austin’s First Ramp Brings New Year’s Cheer
A new ramp can help a client in more ways than one. Austin Central’s first ramp of the New Year was for 49-year-old Michael B. of Travis County. The 21 volunteers (13 youth and 8 adults) from Grace Covenant Church built a 40-foot ramp for Mr. B., who uses a wheelchair and lives alone. The crew donated 120 hours of labor in building the ramp. The referral was from Adult Protective Services.
Randy Kerkman, region coordinator, received the following text at 5:51 a.m. the next day from Mr. B.:
"I'm a little timid but I wanted to make sure everyone knew how grateful I am to have them help build the ramp. They were all very nice to me and it's the most company I've had in over 20 years. I don't have any friends, just my attendant. So it was a little overwhelming but I sure enjoyed the time everyone was here. Be sure to share this please. God bless you all!
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We hope you enjoy having the newsletter sent to you directly, as it is filled with useful information, building hints and tips, data collection updates and processes, client stories, special announcements and recognitions.
The newsletter only does its job when it is dispersed and shared with all who might be interested. We encourage you to liberally pass it on to others in your region.
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Also, do send email addresses of people in your region who should be receiving it, along with their name and TRP region, to Sandy Knutson at sjknutson@texasramps.org.
If you prefer to NOT receive the newsletter, you can unsubscribe by emailing sjknutson@texasramps.org and asking for your name to be removed or use the "Unsubscribe" link below.
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