THE RIGHT ANGLE
Volunteers build wheelchair ramp for girl with cerebral palsy
POTTSTOWN >> Lamoni Green is usually smiling.
But Green, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, had a problem when it came to getting into and out of her house to her driveway. Without a ramp, someone had to carry her and wrestle her chair down the hill.
Now, she has another reason to smile. Thanks to an outpouring of community support, she has a ramp.
A team of workers from Branch Life Church, headed by Pastor Josh Park, showed up to build the ramp. Elverson Supply Co. discounted the supplies. By the end of the day, it was finished.
Elverson Hardware store donated some of the materials and members of the Pottstown Police, NAACP and area business owners donated money to make it happen.
In fact, when all was said and done, there was $400 left over, which was presented to Lamoni
at the Ricketts Community Center during the NAACP meeting there.
Her family was one of the first to move back into their home following the Hale Street home explosion in May, but the money raised for the ramp was separate and apart from the $95,000 raised in the community through the Tri-County Network to help the eight families displaced.
“I want to thank you all who donated money and built my ramp. I do appreciate it. It will help me get out of the house and I really thank all of you,” Green said.
That Lamoni is “amazing” is more than just local opinion.
In 2021, she traveled to Nashville representing the state as Pennsylvania’s “Junior Miss Amazing.”
Miss Amazing Inc. is a national nonprofit formed to counter what it terms “widely-held myths” about the abilities of girls and young women with disabilities.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the 2020 graduate of Pottstown High School
wants to be a motivational speaker one day. And she knows exactly what message she would convey; “Follow your dream. Don’t give up. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.”