For many people, everyday tasks such as going to school or work, meeting friends for lunch, seeing the doctor or buying groceries is not a big deal.

But for others with physical conditions or disabilities, just getting out of the house can be challenging.

To help with these challenges, the Master Builders Association (MBA) of King and Snohomish Counties held its 23rd annual Rampathon event last Saturday, during which members and volunteers built free wheelchair-access ramps for low-income homeowners throughout King and Snohomish counties.

MBA is a construction trade advocacy group and director of association programs Aaron Adelstein said everything is free for the recipients. People volunteer their time and labor, materials are donated and Rampathon has a materials sponsor to help, as well.

“All (the homeowners) have to do is have a team of builders (at their home for the day),” he said.

He added that depending on the size of the project, it may take the builders more than a day, but it is all still free. In addition, Adelstein said some teams go above and beyond doing additional free work around the recipients’ homes such as building a new deck to replace an old deck that the new ramp is now connected to or replacing parts of a fence.

This year’s Rampathon was their biggest one yet with groups building 37 ramps, including two in Redmond.

“No matter what the size (of the event), the feeling is, it’s just a really neat program,” Adelstein said.

The two Redmond ramp recipients this year: 93-year-old Tosh Funai and 57-year-old Steven Kennedy, both of whom use wheelchairs — Funai due to Parkinson’s disease and Kennedy due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

“We’re really, really thankful,” said Funai’s wife Yaeko Funai.

She said they first learned about the Rampathon after Tosh was hospitalized with pneumonia, and while in rehab, one of the physical therapists told them about MBA’s program for free wheelchair-access ramps.

Tosh was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease about 16 years ago and Yaeko said maneuvering stairs is difficult. She said her husband has strong arms and with her helping to hold him up, they’ve been able to manage. But the work and effort it takes has affected 90-year-old Yaeko’s health, as well. She said she has gotten a hernia from helping her husband.

“It was really hard,” she said.

Yaeko said on Wednesday that since it’s been less than a week that their new ramp was installed, they haven’t used it yet, but she knows “it’s very accessible” and will be very helpful. She said it will help when they have to go to the doctor, visit their daughter’s home in Factoria when Tosh is feeling restless or just getting him outside so he is not always housebound.

“This gets him out of the house instead of being cooped up all day,” Yaeko said.

While Tosh was able to get out of the house before they received the ramp — though with considerable effort on Yaeko’s part — Adelstein said that is not always the case with the recipients through the Rampathon program. He said sometimes they meet and build ramps for people who haven’t been able to leave their home in years because it was too physically difficult. It’s such a little thing, Adelstein said, but being able to offer that this year to a record-number of families, “it really feels good.”

Adelstein said the people they serve through Rampathon cover a wide range of needs. They are people of all ages, from children to the elderly.

The recipients also include veterans who have been injured while serving in the military or veterans like Tosh who are in wheelchairs for reasons that have nothing to do with their service.

Tosh served in World War II and as a member of the 442nd Infantry Regiment — which was made up almost entirely Japanese American soldiers — is part of the most decorated unit in U.S. military history. He received the Japanese American Nisei Congressional Gold Medal for his service in Italy and France during the war.

Like many of the soldiers in the unit, Tosh and his family were in the internment camps when he enlisted and it was at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho in 1942 that Tosh and Yaeko met. The couple will celebrate their 70th marriage anniversary in September.