Eagle Scout leads construction of wheelchair ramp and viewing area for Lansing area rink

 

By @MichaelCaples –

When Michael Pierpont tried to take his former daycare provider to a game at Suburban Ice East Lansing, he quickly realized that there was a problem.

“We were at the rink watching my sister play, and Aunt Diana wanted to watch,” the 13-year-old said. “She’s in a wheelchair. She went to watch the game and she couldn’t see anything.”

“Kind of sad, because she couldn’t watch her play.”

Diana was struck with MS a few years ago, so finding a place that wasn’t wheelchair-accessible hit home for Michael. In need of a project for his responsibilities that come with being an Eagle Scout, he decided it was time to build a wheelchair ramp and viewing area at one of the ice sheets at his home rink.

“It wasn’t only Diana, there was another woman there in a wheelchair, as well,” said Michael’s mom, Barb. “We kind of looked at each other and the light bulb went off, you know? ‘I think I have an idea.’ It was something that was personal, yet needed.”

So Michael, a Bantam A player for a team based out of Suburban, dove right in.

“Well we had to fundraise money,” Michael said. “We had to get the supplies and everything, we had to basically plan and get an architect approval.

“First, we did a can drive, which was very successful. Second, people just started to donate money, so we put up a sign at the rink with a donation jar, and we got lots of money that way.”

Suburban Ice East Lansing general manager Jeff Mitchell said that working with Michael was a great experience for all parties involved.

“I think Michael did a good job leading into this,” Mitchell said. “We sat down and talked, but he over saw the whole thing. He was kind of like the foreman of the project, and from start to finish he did an awesome job. He was conscious of what we bought, when we bought it, he was following up with me, so I think it was good to see one of the hockey players in town that has been in the building for a long time, seeing something that the building needed and at such a young age, going out and accomplishing something like this.”

Barb Pierpont said people from all over the local community helped make the ramp and viewing area possible.

“We’ve had a lot of support. Peter Holz is an architect who donated his time and fielded the plans for Michael; Meridian Township actually donated the building permit. Once people have realized what he was doing, he put a board up in the rink and an email was sent out and that kind of thing, once that was done, just the support has been tremendous. People have dropped off their bottles and cans, because that’s what he asked for, for support, and he’s gotten checks to help. Several businesses have supported him as far as donating money or cans. It’s been great.

“People have been stopping by at the rink…some stopped by and we were talking to him, and he actually works at a furniture company (Richard Kopitsch of Midwest Custom Furnishing), he makes furniture for a living, and we didn’t know that. We started talking to Richard and he said ‘oh yeah, you know, it looks like you’re on top of this, it looks great’ and we started talking to him about a threshold piece we couldn’t find and the next thing we know, he offered to make it.”

And when the construction neared completion, Aunt Diana was the first person to give it a try.

“They put the actual ramp floorboards down, and Aunt Diana, she was there, and she could to be the first to test it,” Barb said. “That was neat. We took pictures and everything, it was really cool.”

The ramp and viewing area Michael and his support system built is available for any patrons at Suburban Ice East Lansing.

“I’m very excited, because all of my hard work has been put into it and I get to see it for real,” Michael said. “It feels really good. I’m excited, and I hope everyone else is too.”