Fill-In Bus Driver Builds Wheelchair Ramp After Seeing Mom Struggle

Thomas Mitchell is a school bus mechanic in Clarksville, Tennesse and will sometimes fill in as a substitute driver for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System. His route sometimes includes several special needs children.

During his route Thomas met Verna DeSpain and her wheelchair-bound 10-year-old daughter, Lydia. He noticed that the single mother of two was struggling to get the third-grader's wheelchair down their front steps.

“There was just hardly any room for her to maneuver this wheelchair,” Thomas said. “It just didn’t seem right for somebody to have to struggle like that.”

A few days later he called DeSpain and offered to build a wheelchair ramp for Lydia.

“Everybody should be helping out their neighbor, and so many people just drive by,” he said. “So many people comment, you know, that it’s such a great thing. I challenge them to do the same. There’s no greater feeling.”