BINGHAMTON, NY – Some local girls of Irish heritage are volunteering their time to help better their community.
Members of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Junior Division assisted with the construction of a wheelchair ramp on Binghamton’s Westside over the weekend.
About a dozen girls between the ages of 6 and 18, helped to cut and pre-drill wood and screwed in the floor boards of a ramp outside of the home of Bill and Angela Guiton.
Angela has used a wheelchair in recent years due to the advancing affects of Parkinson’s Disease.
The LAOH Juniors helped the adult volunteers from the Broome County Council of Churches’ Ramp It Up Program.
12 year-old Mary Grace Keenan is the Guitons’ granddaughter.
She says the ramp will allow her grandma to be more independent and for them to be able to spend more time together.
“Every time I see it, I get to know that I helped to do this. And it makes it easier for her and easier for our family. It’s nice to know that I helped do it,” says Keenan.
The LAOH Juniors have worked on Ramp It Up projects before.
They’ve also created gardens, including one at Ross Park and a memorial garden that will be installed in Rec Park this weekend.
The new garden is in tribute to two Binghamton teens who died young in recent years, Harper Stantz and Maddie Shaw.
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