200 Va. teens tackling home projects in Valley

Terri Ellinger, a Staunton resident, stands on her deck Wednesday talking to students as they work on a 48-foot ramp to accommodate her wheelchair. The students are from Baptist churches all over the state and are here as part of Impact Virginia, a week-long contruction mission. (Photo: Megan Williams/The News Leader.)

Terri Ellinger, a Staunton resident, stands on her deck Wednesday talking to students as they work on a 48-foot ramp to accommodate her wheelchair. The students are from Baptist churches all over the state and are here as part of Impact Virginia, a week-long contruction mission.
(Photo: Megan Williams/The News Leader.)

Originally posted on July 25, 2014

STAUNTON [News Leader] – Terri Ellinger carefully navigated the foot-deep holes in her front yard as she handed two planks to one of the teens working on a wheelchair ramp Wednesday morning.

“Be very careful,” said Lee Warren, one of the coordinators for the project.

“I am, I really am,” Ellinger replied.

The Staunton woman has limited mobility and spends most of her time in an electric wheelchair. Not having a ramp to her trailer, she has been mostly trapped in her home, Warren said.

Thanks to Renewing Homes of Greater Augusta, Memorial Baptist Church in Staunton and Impact Virginia — a one-week construction mission undertaken by youths from Baptist churches all over the state — Ellinger will have a way to get in and out of her home by the end of the week.

Read the rest at NewsLeader.com.