Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SYRACUSE — The word freedom has many meanings, but to Sheli Gallegos, it means no longer having to battle the three steps to her front porch.
For the past 10 years, Gallegos has returned home early from work to push her wheelchair-bound daughter into their Syracuse home.
After a running start, she tilts and maneuvers the bulky wheelchair around the small porch to fit it through the front door. She uses a narrow metal ramp to avoid bumping the chair on the steps.
"The ramp is so steep, you literally have to lift up the wheelchair to get it in the house," Gallegos said.
Whitney Gallegos was 18 when she was stopped at a red light and a drunken driver hit her car head-on, her mother said. The accident left Whitney without the use of her legs or left arm, and damaged her mental capacity.
Whitney has been in a wheelchair since the accident in October 2005. Her mother and her mother's boyfriend have learned how to maneuver the wheelchair in and out of the house. But if neither of them make it home on time, Whitney waits outside.
"It's a long time to go without a ramp," Gallegos said.
When Gallegos' co-workers at The Buckner Co. learned about Whitney's disabilities, they wanted to help.
"I knew (Gallegos) had a daughter with disabilities, but I didn’t know how rough it was, that they didn't have a ramp," said Carol Dana, an employee benefits producer with The Buckner Co.
Dana said she heard the company was wanting to do community charity work, and she immediately thought of Gallegos and her daughter.
"I love Sheli, and I thought if we’re going to reach out as a company and help the community, we need to start within. We need to start with our own and then reach out," Dana said.
Lianna Kinard, Buckner's vice president of marketing, took the idea to build a ramp for Gallegos to the company's charity division. When she presented the idea along with a short video about Gallegos' struggles, Kinard said there wasn't a dry eye in the room.
"Our whole goal was to go out to the community and help our clients, and then we realized that there was need in our own company," she said.
Company officials contacted People Builders Utah, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Kyle Korver Foundation that works with communities and businesses to build wheelchair accessible ramps.
"When you have families that have to conquer those two or three steps, it puts them in a prison, essentially. Those three or four steps conquer their life," said Brad Mepham, founder and director of People Builders Utah.
The group has built more than 450 wheelchair accessible ramps for Utah families at a cost of $25 to $30 per square foot, Mepham said.
The ramp for Gallegos' home was funded by the Kyle Korver Foundation.
"We're just so thankful to do it," Mepham said.
But employees at The Buckner Co. wanted to do more for their co-worker.
In less than two days of fundraising, employees had donated $3,000. The donations will pay for 28 sessions of physical therapy for Whitney at Neuroworx.
"Most of us had no idea her daughter had been in this accident. Once we found that out, we thought, 'We’ve got to do something,'" said Frank Lancaster, Buckner's chief financial officer.
On Friday, Buckner employees gathered at Gallegos' house to build the ramp.
"We had volunteers all over the place. We had lots of employees that wanted to come out here today and help out," Lancaster said.
"This is beautiful," Gallegos said when she arrived home Friday afternoon to see the ramp.
Whitney smiled as her mother rolled her wheelchair from the front door and down the ramp for the first time.
"Thank you. Thank you all so much," Whitney said. "I love it. It's so beautiful."
"It's amazing," added Whitney's brother, Colton Gallegos, 18. "I’m just so happy to finally see my mom be able to have something to make it a little bit easier."
"This is going to give us lot of freedoms," Sheli Gallegos said. Email: astilson@deseretnews.com
