Kind bus driver sees mom struggling to get her daughter to the bus in a wheelchair, builds them an access ramp

Venus Upadhayaya
By Venus Upadhayaya
March 5, 2017Stories
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Kind bus driver sees mom struggling to get her daughter to the bus in a wheelchair, builds them an access ramp

One morning when Thomas Mitchell, a mechanic and fill-in school bus driver, saw a mother struggling to get her daughter in a wheelchair out of their home to catch the bus, he knew he wanted to help.

“There was hardly any room for her to maneuver this chair,” Mitchell told his employer at the Tennessee County School System in a video they posted on Facebook, “It’s just not right that somebody has to struggle like that.”

Thomas Mitchell. Source: Huffington Post
Thomas Mitchell. Source: Screenshot of the CMCSS video on facebook

He decided there and then that in order to help Verna DeSpain and her daughter Lydia, he must build them an access ramp so they could easily enter and exit their home.

Source: Youtube screenshot
Source: Youtube screenshot

“I was just so shocked,” De Spain told CBS News, “I got a call from Mr. Mitchell one day out of the blue.”

Lydia and her mother, Verna DeSpain. Source: Huffington Post
Lydia and her mother, Verna DeSpain. Source: Huffington Post

At first Thomas was not so sure on how to go about building this ramp. He knew that he couldn’t afford to do it entirely on his own, so he began calling out to other people for help. He called up his local Lowe’s store and spoke to the store manager, David Adams about his idea to build a ramp for Verna and Lydia DeSpain.

Adams was very forthcoming and asked for a list of materials that would be needed. Lowe’s store generously donated everything on the list.

Then, on a Sunday morning in January, Verna DeSpain heard a knock at the door. Mitchell and 4 strong men were there on a mission. In a few hours they had built a durable wooden ramp for Verna and Lydia to use.

The ramp. Source: Huffington Post
The bus ramp. Source: Screenshot of the CMCSS video on facebook

“I am very thankful and very grateful,” De Spain told CBS. ‘It’s a major blessing. This is the best year my children and I have had.”

She also added that this ramp is no ordinary ramp, it has a small deck, which my daughter and I will use to sit on when the weather is warmer. We are both fans of nature.” Verna De Spain said happily.

Mitchell was very pleased to have been able to make a difference to another person’s life.

Source: Youtube screenshot
Source: Youtube screenshot

“Everybody should be kind and helpful to their neighbors,” Thomas Mitchell said in CMCSS Video.

“So many people comment, you know, that it’s so great, but I challenge them to do the same, there is no greater feeling,” Mitchell said.

To find an opportunity do a good deed can actually be quite easy, if we would just open our eyes and take a look around us.

Watch the video here:

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