Five-year-old Ryder Killam no longer has to battle the elements while he waits for his school bus. Thanks to the handiwork of local high schoolers, the wheelchair-bound Killam, now has a bus stop shelter to give him some protection from whatever the Rhode Island forecast has in store.
Ryder's father, Tim, put out a patio umbrella for his son to use as rain protection, but with any amount of wind, the umbrella proved useless. Tim wrote a post on Facebook to see if anyone had an old bus hut, but a connection recommended that he reach out to the local high school construction class to see if they would build one.
Tim emailed the construction tech teacher at Westerly High School, Dan McKena, to which he responded with an, "absolutely."
Three students took on the project which was created thanks in part to a donation from Home Depot.
The finished product was impressive. It was built on a 5x8 footprint which allows for Ryder and an adult to join him.
"Ryder's first reaction was 'Holy Cow!', he loved it and wants to hang out it in all the time."