Mission Salem on Sunday dedicated and held a ribbon cutting their new facility on the South Hotze Road in the Westside Industrial Park.
President Angie Cartright says they were able to complete the new building totally from donations and don’t owe a dime on the facility.
“A year ago yesterday we locked the doors on the old Save-A-Lot building,” Cartright said. “For about eight months we just worked out of people’s garages and sheds and everywhere we could until this building was under roof enough that we could start building here.”
Cartright says the building is more than they envisioned.
“We were hoping to just put a pole barn up, and we’ve been able to finish and have an office space, a board room and the additional storage. We could not do what we do without the support of the Salem community.”
Board President Randy Donoho says the ramps have given some of the recipients a chance to once again come and go from their homes. He noted one veteran from the Boyd area who was able to leave his home for the first time in two years when his ramp and porch were completed.
“We’ve had veterans we’ve done ramps for,” Donoho said. “We’ve had people who have had knee replacements or hip replacements. We’ve put our temporary ramps in there, aluminum ramps, I think there are six of them right now that are out at different sites. We have done several for hospice and for more permanent disabilities, we set wooden ramps. They are all temporary too, where we can go back and recover them.”
The dedication was given by Kenny Cripps who noted how fortunate everyone was to live in Salem where people helped each other in time of need. He then turned his attention to the ramp builders at Mission Salem.
“These men are more than just ramp builders, because whenever they come to a house or something like that where there’s a ramp that needs built, they don’t just look at the house and the ramp. They look at the needs of the people, and some of these people need Jesus.”
The city of Salem provided the land for the building on a $1 a month lease for ten years, with a potential six extensions for a total of 60 years.
Since it began in 2018, Mission Salem has now constructed 234 ramps including 28 this year. They are provided free of charge to those in need.
Between 30 and 40 volunteer their time to build ramps.
Kenny Cripps gives a dedication speech for the new Mission Salem building. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
Storage area at the new Mission Salem building. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
