Mattapoisett Lions Club Ramps up the Fun

            On Saturday, September 5, within the Tri-Town, a small, decided group got down to do a superb deed. With smiles and instruments in hand, they spent the day putting in a metallic ramp at a house for a neighbor with mobility points who wanted higher entry.

            The group is a part of the Mattapoisett Lions Club, a 60-member native group concerned in acts of service all through the Tri-Town and past.

            When the Marion Health & Human Services workplace reached out to the membership with an pressing want for a wheelchair ramp, they started working.

            “We love to do things like this; it gives us camaraderie and a feeling of doing something good in the community,” stated Paul Stubbs, president of the Mattapoisett Lions Club.

            In about three weeks, they procured a used ramp at half the worth of a brand new one, authorized the spending at an August board assembly, and put in it.

             “Wheelchair ramps have become expensive. In the past, you only needed $400 to $500 [to purchase one], and guys who knew what they were doing,” he stated.

            That isn’t the case anymore. A typical wheelchair ramp prices between $4,000 and $7,000, Stubbs stated. “That’s expensive for someone with an illness or low income.”

            He stated the membership prefers metallic ramps as a result of wood ones deteriorate over time, including that the group is looking for donations.

            On that Saturday, Lions Club members together with Jeremy Caswell, Bruce Rocha, Jeffrey Swift, Ron Ellis, Fred Avery, and others provided assist with enthusiasm and loads of banter. Connie Hayes donated espresso and donuts that stored the crew fueled.

            “Caswell let us use his trailer. We needed to cut the steel with his own grinder. We couldn’t have done it without him,” he stated.

            Stubbs stated he has been president for the reason that finish of June; he was final president in 1994. He stated they’d like to get youthful members to affix the membership. 

            “We’re a lot of fun; we help a lot. It’s a great society to be involved with. I’ve been doing this for 42 years, and I’m not the oldest one in the club,” Stubbs stated. He added it’s additionally nice for networking and assembly influential folks on the town.

            He stated the membership — a part of the a lot bigger Lions Club International with 1.4 million members worldwide — does significant work within the spirit of incapacity rights activist Helen Keller. In specific, the group focuses its efforts on supporting folks with blindness or eye ailments; it companions with Mass Eye and Ear, a Mass General Brigham member based mostly in Boston.

            Other help consists of offering eyeglasses and listening to aids, donating to native meals pantries, and gathering items for native service members and ladies serving abroad.

             “Whatever your skill or interest in giving back to the local community or internationally, we have a place for you,” Stubbs stated.

By Laura Pedulli