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First Congregational Volunteers Build Ramp to Help Local ROMEO Stay Connected with Friends

Sometimes, doing a whole lot of good doesn’t require leaving your own backyard.

Volunteers with First Congregational Church’s Pilgrim Fellowship learned this after the pandemic grounded their annual mission trip, and Fellowship Director Judy Wallace began searching for a way they could make a difference without the untenable risk of travel.

That is how she learned about longtime Guilford resident Dick Santoro who, living with a rare degenerative nerve condition, had been struggling to get in and out of his house, sometimes having to sit and slide down the stairs from the door.

“We found out about the Santoros and their need for a handicap ramp, and I said, ‘That is the perfect thing for us to do this summer,’” Wallace said.

Tapping into their unused mission trip funds and leveraging the experience and skills of contractors who often build ramps and other structures when they travel to underserved areas, Pilgrim Fellowship volunteers installed the ramp in under a week, finishing up in time for Santoro to use it on his weekly outing last week with a special group of friends.

That group, whose members call themselves the ROMEOs—Retired Old Men Eating Out—sometimes carried Santoro down the stairs in the past, according to his wife, Elizabeth Santoro, who said the ramp will give her husband a tremendous new freedom going forward.

“It’s a new lease on life,” she said.

The connection between Pilgrim Fellowship and the Santoros came through Marta Slatterly, who oversees Guilford Interfaith Volunteers, Charlie’s Closet, and Guilford Meals on Wheels, programs that have worked with the Santoros in the past.

Elizabeth Santoro said she had mentioned the need for a ramp to Slatterly almost in passing, and nearly simultaneously Wallace had inquired about any Guilford families in need of more extensive volunteer assistance.

“When [Slatterly] made this connection, she went, ‘Could you guys build a ramp?’ and I said, ‘Oh my God that’s what we do!’” Wallace said, laughing.

With two experienced contractors who regularly travel with the Fellowship coordinating the young volunteers, who worked in shifts to avoid unsafe levels of gathering- and also pulling all necessary permits for the town, Wallace said the only other necessity was the materials, which were all purchased with the funds meant for the trip.

Wallace said that while the fellowship will miss the opportunity to travel and learn about other communities—this year’s trip would have brought the group to the Appalachia region of the United States—members were ecstatic to find a way to do good right here at home.

“These kids are learning things, they’re learning how to do things...and it’s really nice for them to be able to meet [the Santoros], and get that kind of positive feedback from what they’re doing,” Wallace said.

Dick Santoro said he has struggled to get out the front of his house for around a year, and that going out has become “riskier” recently after he suffered several falls inside the house.

Though the couple looked briefly into purchasing some sort of pre-fabricated ramp, he said learning about the fellowship’s expertise and desire to help seemed “ideal.”

The Santoro’s house has an expansive back deck that Dick can reach without navigating stairs, he said he also recently acquired a new motorized wheelchair (also with the help of Slatterly) and that the ramp will give him significantly more freedom just to move around the property, as well as take his weekly outings with the other ROMEOs.

“What these guys are doing is wonderful, it’s a terrific thing they’re doing, and we appreciate it a lot,” he said.