After seeing that a child who uses a wheelchair and was only five years old got wet while waiting for the school bus in the winter, a group of teens decided to build a shelter for the child.

With nothing but a patio umbrella to shield him, five-year-old Ryder Killam has been forced to spend approximately 15 minutes of each day in the elements, including wind, snow, and rain.

However, after hearing about his predicament, students from the surrounding area in Bradford, Rhode Island, created a bus shelter for the end of his driveway while they were taking construction classes.

“Ryder uses it daily before school, and his nurses wait in it daily for his return home,” said Tim, Ryder’s father. “Ryder’s nurses wait in it daily for his return home.”

In addition to that, he takes great pleasure in transforming it into a fort on occasion.

This initiative proved that there is still a significant amount of goodness in both the world at large and in this particular town.

Ryder has never been able to walk because he was born with spina bifida myelomeningocele.

He reportedly started using a wheelchair when he was only two years old…

Since he started attending an inclusive preschool at Dunn’s Corner Elementary in June 2019, his parents, Tim and Nikea, have been required to walk him the 75 feet to the end of the road each day in order for him to wait for his school bus.

Ryder frequently had to wait up to 15 minutes outside in whatever weather there was because he was unable to race for the bus as his peers could if they were running late. This meant that Ryder had to endure the elements.

In September of this year, at around the same time that Ryder started kindergarten, Tim made the decision to put a patio umbrella at the end of his driveway in order to provide shelter from the elements.

He explained that the problem with the wind and the fall weather in New England was that it wasn’t very effective unless it was a rainy day with no wind; otherwise, he would still get wet and chilly. He said that this was the challenge with the wind and the autumn weather in New England.

They came to the conclusion that the best way to safeguard Ryder from the elements was to inquire among their neighbors about available options.

Tim, who runs a company that sells nautical equipment, shared the following: “I put a request on Facebook to see if any of my friends or their contacts owned an old bus hut.”

I had seen them here and there on other people’s properties, and I always figured that the individuals who owned them had grown children who no longer required the item.

Following the article, a member of the WPS suggested that I get in touch with the construction class at Westerly High School to determine whether or not they would be interested in constructing a bus stop hut for Ryder.

Tim inquired, via e-mail, as to whether or if Dan McKena, who has been a teacher of construction technology at Westerly High School for the past 27 years, would be interested in participating in a project of this nature.

“When I asked him if he would, he said, ‘Absolutely,’ and then he worked along with his students to plan and build the hut,” the teacher explained.

The impending snowstorm served as additional motivation for three of Mr. McKena’s pupils as they labored hard on the project for a number of weeks. As they created the structure, they learned new skills by watching instructional videos on YouTube.

The Kilmans spent $300 worth of wood purchased from Home Depot for the project, but their total expenditure was $600 for the remaining components. They received photographs to keep them informed throughout the process.

Six weeks and one day later, on November 2nd, the hut measuring 58 feet in length was eventually brought to Ryder’s house. It was planned in such a way that Ryder, one of his parents, or even a nurse could sit there in comfort.

Tim made the following observation: “We were surprised by how much larger it was than we had thought; Ryder and an adult may safely accompany him.”

“Ryder’s first reaction was ‘Holy Cow!’; he absolutely enjoyed it, and he wants to hang out in it on a regular basis.”

The family wanted to show their appreciation for the young people’s efforts by sending an image of Ryder posing at the bus shelter. We have no doubt that they took pleasure in observing the positive effects that their effort had on others.