The American Prospect #325

A Dangerous Pla HOUSTON—Christmas was around the corner, and he needed money for gifts. As he sized up the job, though, he was worried. There wasn’t the right equipment to climb the tree and he also wanted someone to hold the ladder as he climbed. He had worked for a tree-cutting firm, so he knew about safety.

But the contractor, who had offered him the job cutting down a tree at a condo, wouldn’t agree.

And so, Raymundo Mendoza took the chance.

The ladder slipped, sending him plunging downward, landing on his back. The contractor fled the scene and has never been seen again. A passing public bus driver saw him lying on the ground and called an ambulance. At the hospital, they told him he was paralyzed.

That was 13 years ago. Today, Mendoza is a volunteer and one of the leaders at a small nonprofit here that provides free wheelchairs, medical supplies, and support to paralyzed immigrants and refugees, among them workers like him. The organization was founded about 17 years ago when Harris County was cutting its budget.

42 PROSPECT.ORG APRIL 2022