Disabled girl's wish granted

TOPPENISH -- Getting 8-year-old Italia Rios up and down the steps of her front porch has just become easier, thanks to students from Stanton Academy, an alternative school in Union Gap, and the Children's Wishes and Dreams program.

Italia has cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound.

Her mother, Rosa Rios, has struggled getting her and her wheelchair up and down the porch.

Two years ago, she wrote the local Children's Wishes and Dreams program seeking a ramp that would allow her to simply push her daughter up and down the porch.

"I needed help," she said Thursday as construction students from Stanton Academy installed a $1,100 ramp at her Toppenish home in the 500 block of South Alder Street.

It took seven students about six hours Thursday to install the 27-foot-long ramp, which stretches from the sidewalk to the top of the porch.

"They've really been working hard on it all day and are really doing a good job," construction teacher Ben Elliot said while the students were working.

Elliot said he learned about the project from a school board member who is routinely in touch with Wishes and Dreams, a nonprofit organization that grants wishes of children with life threatening illnesses or life altering medical conditions or injuries. It has offices in Yakima and Walla Walla.

"He thought it would be a good project for our students," he said.

Now, Rios and her husband, Jose, will have an easier time getting their daughter in and out of the house.

"I'm excited," Rosa Rios said.