Volunteers Build Wheelchair Ramp For Elderly Couple

An Oklahoma City senior citizen who a month ago was fighting not only cancer, but also with his landlord, has finally gotten some relief.

Wednesday, September 16th 2015, 9:27 pm

By: News 9


An Oklahoma City senior citizen who a month ago was fighting not only cancer, but also with his landlord, has finally gotten some relief. 

76-year-old Veldon Gray’s deteriorating condition, and the medical bills associated with it, pushed him and his wife Betty out of their home last spring. 

They moved into a five-plex apartment building off S Portland Avenue, but it did not have a wheelchair ramp. Veldon is now wheelchair-bound. 

8/12/2015 Related Story: Couple Fights With Landlord For Wheelchair Ramp Installation

Last Saturday morning, volunteers from the Northwest Kiwanis, the India Shrine Center in Oklahoma City, Teamster Local 886, and a non-profit called Rebuilding Together OKC installed a wooden wheelchair ramp, and a new concrete sidewalk, that leads to Veldon and Betty’s apartment home.

“I feel real privileged to have a town like this that stood behind the old people,” Veldon Gray said Wednesday afternoon. 

Dale Hampton of India Shrine said disabled people in Oklahoma sometimes are left behind.  

“The state has yet to adopt the Americans With Disabilities Act that was passed 25 years ago, so that landlords and people could get training and know what their responsibilities are for people with disabilities,” he said.  

Hampton said when Veldon Gray’s landlord was informed about the federal law “he jumped on the bandwagon” and has not stood in the way of volunteers who have been wanting to help. 

Betty Gray said the biggest thing the new ramp does for her and her husband, is that it allows her to get him to medical appointments that are keeping Veldon alive.

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