When her daughter passed away, she wanted to give her wheelchair ramp to someone who needed it. She found that person, but then, the hurdles began, and before giving up, the women turned to Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
Cookie is a remarkable woman.
Cookie Linda: “I have lost three children out of five, and people say, ‘how do you go on?’ I have a relationship with God. And I believe that God puts everybody on this earth and they have a job to do.”
Cookie doesn’t just talk about her faith, she follows it.
Cookie Linda: “And that’s me at the bottom.”
When her daughter died, she started searching for someone who needed her wheelchair ramp.
Cookie Linda: “Solid steel, professional.”
Cookie heard about a woman named Marie, who lived a few blocks away. She went to meet her.
Marie Griffin: “I need that ramp real bad.”
Marie had to crawl down her steps to get outside but she can’t crawl back up the stairs.
Marie Griffin: “I’m a straight-out prisoner. I have to call the ambulance or even the fire department in order to put me back in the house.”
A prisoner that Cookie thought her ramp would set free. They searched. People wanted thousands to install it. Neither woman had the money.
Cookie Linda: “I said ‘No, you don’t pay nobody anything.’ You know, I’ve got the tenacity of a bulldog, we are gonna find help here.”
But as time passed with no help, Marie was giving up hope.
Cookie Linda: “I said ‘Marie, don’t worry about it. I’m calling Help Me Howard.’”
As I met with Cookie and Marie, my first thought was the Center for Independent Living. I contacted them.
Brian Johnson: “We’re a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities become more independent and self-sufficient.”
Brian contacted Next Day Access and the mother-son owners went to see Marie. They determined Cookie’s ramp wouldn’t fit at Marie’s home, but after the Center for Independent Living agreed to pay for a new ramp, Next Day Access offered to supply it at an enormous discount.
Geri Castaldo: “If there’s a way that we can help, make a little less profit for a good cause, then we’re all about that.”
At 10 a.m., the ramp installation began. Marie couldn’t get up to see but she could hear it.
Marie Griffin: “Isn’t it beautiful, I tell you? Oh my god, I’m just so happy. I am so, so, so happy.”
As the work progressed, the two women brought together by a ramp celebrated.
Marie Griffin: “I thank God for her because if it wasn’t for her and my lord and savior, I tell you, I don’t know what I would have did.”
Three hours later, the wheelchair ramp was ready. Brian tested it out. Jesse brought up Marie’s scooter. It took Marie awhile to get up. She said she didn’t want any help for this first trip. Instead of crawling down stairs or calling firefighters to carry her, Marie was in charge. Truly independent again.
Marie Griffin: “I’ve not had any sun for two months.”
Hadn’t been outside for two months. It all happened because Cookie called us.
Cookie Linda: “God used me to help her and that makes me happy.”
We called the Center for Independent Living. They hired Next Day Access.
Geri Castaldo: “Very rewarding.”
Together, everyone changed a woman’s life in a wonderful way.
Marie Griffin: “Thank you, everybody, so much. Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
That was nice to be a part of.
If you would like to get help from the Center for Independent Living or donate to help them help others, their contact info is under this story.
A problem left you feeling imprisoned? Don’t say that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Let us scoot in and ramp up a solution for you. With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser 7News.
FOR MORE INFO:
Center for Independant Living in Broward
https://www.cilbroward.org/
954-722-6400
Next Day Access
https://www.nextdayaccess.com/boca-raton-fl/
561-546 3396
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
Email: helpmehoward@wsvn.com
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN