In 2021, Ryder Killam was 5 years old and, because of the spina bifida he was born with, he got around in a wheelchair. Every morning, his dad Tim took him to the end of the driveway of their home in Bradford, Rhode Island, to wait for the school bus.
Fifteen minutes in the rain, wind or snow, sheltered only by a patio umbrella that proved insufficient when the weather turned harsh.
Tim wasn’t asking for a miracle. In a Facebook group, he asked whether anyone had a used bus shelter they could give him. The response led him to Westerly High School’s construction class, where a group of students took the request on as their own project and, using the tools they were learning to use, built Ryder a custom-made shelter.
That shelter awaited him every morning before school. And in the afternoons, when there was no bus to wait for, it became his favorite fort to play in.