TYLER — "Coming home" is a phrase that for most people means safety and comfort. But for people who physically are not able to get in and out of their homes, it is one of stress and anxiety.
That's where the Texas Ramp Project steps in to help.
Since the beginning of 2018, the program built 94 ramps in Smith, Van Zandt and Henderson Counties.
They have a list of nearly 40 ramps left to build, and are expecting many more applications throughout the year. However, at this time, they cannot afford to build those requests.
Terry Lambert and her husband Lee have lived in their home for 36 years.
"This is the only place he wants to be, by the water," Terry Lambert said. "This is the only place."
When Lee fell down and cracked his hip in May, he was no longer able to climb the stairs to get into their home.
"My daughter-in-law, my son-in-law, they were going to try to build one. But time got away from us because we had to have it by a certain date," Lambert said.
So the Texas Ramp Project stepped in. Within a day, the Lambert's ramp was ready for use.
"I don't know what we would have done if they hadn't," Lambert said. "It's an awesome ramp."
This is one of the countless stories that George Cronin has heard over the last eight years of working with the program.
"We're helping people that fall through the cracks, that cannot afford them, that have had the need," Cronin said.
He said it is the people that he gets to help that keeps him going every single day.
"We run into difference cases, that, they're what keep me from walking away from this," Cronin said. "Because we deal with some people that are actually physically having to crawl in and out of a house."
Now Cronin fears that the program is coming to an end, even though the need is still strong.
"We're backlogged on a good portion of them. About 35, 40 of them at this time," Cronin explained. "And when those people get built, I don't know."
For Terry, knowing how much the program meant to her and her husband, she just wants to be available for other families like hers where a ramp was so vital to their livelihood.
"Senior citizens never have the money. When you live on social security, and then also just trying to find somebody to help you build the ramp, much less the funding," Lambert said. "But this, they paid for it, and I can't say enough for it."
Dayspring United Methodist Church is helping the program get through their last new builds of the month.
While their primary need is funding, the program also needs supplies and volunteers.