SAW's Ramps of St. Joseph County Indiana

09/01/2026

08/28/2026

Our “Ever-Ready-to-Serve” project manager and friend, Ken Nisley, learned of a project underway at St Pat’s County Park, where a local Eagle Scout group was in need of additional volunteers and since we did not have a ramp project this weekend, Ken thought it would be a nice diversion from our norm to get involved with.

St Pat’s Park is building an Osprey Overlook , high on a hill that will eventually have an awesome view of the St Joe River and riverbed where a great deal of Osprey activity takes place. Chris and Mike, the parks project managers, designed, secured materials, and already had concrete pylons and posts in place and also had much of the viewing platform and ramp leading up to the platform constructed. Our objective today, with instruction coming from Kevin Clawson, scout project manager, was to deck the ramp, set all of the railing posts and complete the joists for the viewing platform. All of that was accomplished in just under seven hours.

Tomorrow’s volunteer team will complete the decking of the platform and much of the perimeter railing. And with three days in a row of good weather, the Sunday team should complete all aspects of the railing.

A few tons of dirt is expected for the build up of ground leading up to the ramp, where in just a few weeks, with the addition of a crushed concrete base, this should end up being accessible to all. Plans are to allow the added ground to settle into a strong base over the winter and in the spring top it again with crushed concrete, and shortly after, pour a concrete walk, making this wonderful new park feature 100% handicap accessible.

Servants at Work, Inc.

08/27/2026

Say hello to our new friend Bill.

Ben Smith and I had the pleasure of helping Bill by replacing his step tops which were rotten to the core. Bill, now 75, has lived in his home for 26 years in a local mobile home community that would not provide him assistance. Along with that, Bill, a veteran of the Vietnam war, serving 6 years in-country, could not even get assistance from the V.A. because Bill was told they could not find his service records - let that sink in!

Bill reached out to us last week with his application on Thursday, I visited him on Friday and yesterday we completed his step restoration in about 2 short hours. Bill had a doctors appointment to go to while we were working and as we finished he returned home to see the mprovements we made. Bill stopped, looked and cried. He again has safe steps to use with his cane to access his home once again.

Bill thanked us for what we did, but more importantly we thanked him for trusting us with this need and for his selflessness in serving our country during a very difficult conflict. Father God, continue to Bless Bill, keeping him safe, healthy, and strong in living out the balance of what you have planned for his life.

Servants at Work, Inc.
Cornerstone Church

08/22/2026

Thank you Dale Nagel and your team from Oak Creek Community Church of Mishawaka that included Charlie Brown, Jon Joyner and Josiah Cerling on the completion of another life changing ramp. While there was some customization needed, you came up with great solutions that will go a long way in providing independence and freedom.

Our client, Abriana and her mother Flornecia were away this weekend attending an event for Abriana’s healthcare benefit. Abriana suffers from Lupus and is also legally blind. While she can walk, her vision issues have caused her to miss-step several times over the two low-rise steps into their home causing her to fall and sustain injuries. Well, that ends tomorrow when she returns home to the surprise of an ADA Safe Access ramp that she will use seamlessly and is aided by railings on both sides for her safe use.

NOTE: We will add a photo of Abriana using the ramp for the first time once she’s returned home.

This completes our 17th project of the season and our 280th since we started with SAWs in 2014. God Is Good and we thank Him for the abundant provision He provides in willing volunteers like this team and giving donors like you, our supporters.

Servants at Work, Inc.

www.sawsramps.org

08/22/2026

Stop by IUSB Student Activities Center today from 12 - 5 PM and engage with several vendors that provide services that may benefit you. We are pleased to have been invited to join in this their inaugural event and hope to participate again next year.

Servants at Work, Inc.

08/20/2026

The Spokes & Folks event takes place August 22nd from 12-5 PM at Indiana University South Bend's Student Activity Center

Hello Local Followers - Sharing this with all in advance with more to follow.

We will be participating in a first time event with Spokes n’ Folks and the River City Rollers on Saturday, August 22, 2026 from 12pm-5pm in the Student Activity Center at IUSB in South Bend. The main goal for this inaugural event is to provide our disabled community with resources they may not know are readily available to them! The event will include adaptive sport demos, free wheelchair maintenance/cleaning, grant workshops, and information provided by organizations. This is open to all, so come by and learn of offerings available in our shared community.

Servants at Work, Inc.
River City Rollers

08/16/2026

Here’s a reminder about an event taking place this coming Saturday, 8/22, from noon to five pm that you might be interested in attending. Come by and say hi, we’ll be participating.

Share this please to reach others and thanks.

Hello Local Followers - Sharing this with all in advance with more to follow.

We will be participating in a first time event with Spokes n’ Folks and the River City Rollers on Saturday, August 22, 2026 from 12pm-5pm in the Student Activity Center at IUSB in South Bend. The main goal for this inaugural event is to provide our disabled community with resources they may not know are readily available to them! The event will include adaptive sport demos, free wheelchair maintenance/cleaning, grant workshops, and information provided by organizations. This is open to all, so come by and learn of offerings available in our shared community.

Servants at Work, Inc.
River City Rollers

08/08/2026

Another perfect weather 2-Day weekend as we served Tonjia with a 35’ linear safe access ramp system. Tonjia recently underwent a quadruple heart bypass with two unexplained after effects, that being vertigo which makes him dizzy most days and issues controlling his sugar levels which has effected his vision. The vision issues disrupt his use of steps and the vertigo causes balance issues which is where this ramp will help in a big way by keeping on a flat plain as he access his home. This ramp will also benefit his mother, Helen, now 83 and having some balance issues of her own.

Tim Stephens led both our Friday Prefab and our Saturday install teams. Joining him was his wife, Michelle, and Rick Paridaen from St Mark’s Church, Ben Smith, Andy Jenkins and Kevin Avery from Cornerstone Church, Ken Nisley from The Vineyard Church, Brian Wright, Phil Lubensky from Trinity Church South Bend and finally Tom Visker from Church of the Savior CRC.

This completed our 16th project of the season. We currently have three more ready to go with two pending City approvals and can use all the volunteer help we can get. If you’d like to join us, simply visit our site, sawsramps.org, where on the home page you’ll see a handy feature that says VOLUNTEER. Just tap that and complete our volunteer profile, then keep an eye open for email volunteer opportunities.

Servants at Work, Inc.

08/03/2026

Hello Local Followers - Sharing this with all in advance with more to follow.

We will be participating in a first time event with Spokes n’ Folks and the River City Rollers on Saturday, August 22, 2026 from 12pm-5pm in the Student Activity Center at IUSB in South Bend. The main goal for this inaugural event is to provide our disabled community with resources they may not know are readily available to them! The event will include adaptive sport demos, free wheelchair maintenance/cleaning, grant workshops, and information provided by organizations. This is open to all, so come by and learn of offerings available in our shared community.

Servants at Work, Inc.
River City Rollers

07/30/2026