James Bright thought that although his friend, Kevin Winter, is wheelchair-bound, he could have fun bowling duckpins. At Mt. Airy Duckpin Lanes, the two tried out the ball-launching ramp that Bright built. It was a success.
Written By Anne Blue, Photos by: Phil Grout
Nineteen-year-old James Bright has two passions in his life: welding and serving others. Earlier this year, Bright seized the opportunity to fulfill both when he agreed to help Kevin Winter pursue his passion: bowling.
Kevin Winter, 24, is a developmentally disabled young man who has bowled since he was about 6 years old. His face lights up when he gets to bowl.
“Kevin is nonverbal and has limited mobility,” said his mother, Mary Winter, “but he speaks a lot with his eyes and hands. His eyes light up when he gets to bowl.”
Kevin, who lives with his family in Damascus, spends most of his time in a wheelchair. He bowls at Mt. Airy Duckpin Lanes throughout the year and is there every spring as he prepares to bowl in the Maryland Special Olympics.
He has little arm strength, so that when he bowls he needs special adaptive equipment that allows him to push the bowling ball down a ramp into the duckpin lane. When the small ramps used to help preschoolers bowl no longer accommodated Kevin’s wheelchair, his mother began to think about ways to keep him bowling.
“I asked about buying a larger ramp,” said Winter, “but all adaptive equipment is very expensive. So, I thought about how we could have a ramp made just for Kevin.”
Then Mary thought about James Bright, a good friend of Kevin’s younger sister, Lauren, and a fellow member of Greenridge Baptist Church in Clarksburg.
A 2010 graduate of South Carroll High School, Bright completed the welding program at the Carroll County Career and Tech Center during his last two years of high school.
Since graduation, Bright, a Mt. Airy resident, has worked for Comus Design and Construction, a Clarksburg metal fabrication company, but he still finds time to do extra welding projects and service work.
“I love to weld and do it any chance I can get,” said Bright. “It is really cool when my welding projects can be useful to someone.”
When the Winters approached Bright about Kevin’s need for a special ramp to help him bowl, Bright quickly agreed to take on the project.
“The Winters came to me with a need,” said Bright. “I knew Kevin and his family from church, and I knew I could help out.”
Mary Winter borrowed a small ramp from Mt. Airy Duckpin Lanes for Bright to use as a pattern.
Even after the ramp was constructed, Bright wasn’t satisfied with the project. He customized the device by painting it in Kevin’s favorite colors and adding Kevin’s name.
In March, Kevin’s family invited Bright to the Mt Airy Duck Pin Lanes to watch Kevin bowl.
“It was great seeing Kevin use the ramp, seeing how it made bowling easier for him and seeing how happy he was,” said Bright. “I like knowing I helped someone out and made him happy.”
Because Bright designed the ramp in two pieces, it is easy to take apart and transport. When Kevin is not using his ramp at the lanes in Mt Airy, it stays at CHANGE, Inc. where Kevin is a client and participates in their Medical Day Program. The teachers there set up informal bowling as a PE activity in the classroom. That way, Kevin gets in some extra bowling practice and is able to share his ramp with others.
Since receiving his custom ramp, Kevin has posted his highest bowling scores ever.
