A local group of teenagers rolled up their sleeves and got to work Wednesday building wheelchair ramps for disabled residents in Maryland.

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The 20 local teenagers will spend this week doing hard labor despite the muggy heat.

They're building wheelchair ramps for families in need.
“They have no idea what this is going to do for us,” said disabled resident Geraldine McIntyre.

McIntyre and her daughter Monique are both disabled. They've lived in a Capitol Heights house for 30 years.

“When we first moved in, everybody walked but it's not the case now,” said Monique McIntyre.

The teens are volunteering for the local Jewish organization Yachad.

“Yachad actually means together,” explains the group’s Program Director Kendra Rubinfeld. “It's a hebrew word. And it's very important for us to take people from all parts of Washington and bring them together by doing good work.”

In Lanham, Nuria Guevara's 7-year-old son Carlos has cerebral palsy. Until now, it's been a struggle to get him in and out of the house. “We are so excited, my entire family is so excited,” said Guevara.

It's not often teenagers give up a week of their summer vacation to volunteer for physically demanding work during temperatures in the 90s.

“A lot of shvitzing today,” said Rubinfeld. “We like to use a lot of Yiddish. Lots of Shvitzing.”

The volunteers say that knowing residents will soon have a little more independence is worth the sweat.

“It's just like a great feeling at the end to give back to my community,” said volunteer Leigh Fishman.