VIDEO: Volunteers Build Ramp to Help Disabled Rose Hill Woman

Rose Hill resident Theron "Pat" Beneze has spent the past two years entering and exiting her home through the garage.

Beneze, 87, suffers from arthritis and began using a motorized wheelchair to get around about two years ago. Her nephew built a makeshift ramp in the garage, but an eight-inch step made it impossible for Beneze to get in or out of her front door.

All that changed on Saturday when a group of three builders finished construction on a 6-by-16 foot concrete ramp outside the front of the Rose Hill home where Beneze has lived since 1963. The project was part of a day-long Master Builders Association event called Rampathon, a volunteer effort that brings together local carpenters, electricians and other craftsmen to build wheelchair ramps for elderly and low-income people in King and Snohomish counties.

Josh Miller, an electrician from Shoreline, Brad Bjorklund, a general contractor from Bellevue, and Chris Graham, a stair-builder from Snohomish, spent about five hours Thursday pouring 60 bags of concrete at Beneze's house on Thursday and then returned for four hours on Saturday to finish the project.

The ramp took the place of an eight-inch step that had previously prohibited Beneze from wheeling out her front door.

"It doesn't matter if it's eight inches or three feet, it's the same problem," Miller said.

Beneze, a grandmother who served in World War II as a dietitian for the Marine Corps and worked for the Sammamish Valley News, said there are definitely things she misses since she became confined to a wheelchair, such as spending time outside gardening.

But Beneze said she is grateful for the new ramp, which represents one less hassle of getting around.

"This is a really big help to me," she said.