AUBURN — Sometime today, Ollie Wilbur will meet Rob Young in what promises to be a noisy but gratifying encounter.

Wilbur is 104 years old, possibly the oldest Native American in the state. She lives on the Muckleshoot reservation and uses a wheelchair, but has not been able to leave her house without help for years. The reason: Her wheelchair ramp is old and warped beyond repair.

Young plans to build her a new one. He learned about Wilbur's problem in a Seattle Times story last Sunday about poor tribal housing conditions. Young runs the Red Feather Development Group, a volunteer organization that repairs and builds houses for needy Native Americans.

Young and four volunteers today plan to make a racket outside Wilbur's door, but by day's end, a new ramp will be in place, and Wilbur will be able to roll out and see for herself what the autumn rains have done to her yard — something she has been wanting to do for a while.

"She made it to 104 years old but can't even get out of her own house — there's something wrong with that," said Young, a 35-year-old Bellevue entrepreneur who runs the volunteer agency out of his home.

Other individuals and organizations have stepped up to offer help after reading the tribal housing series. Among them:

• Ken and Marhe Youch, who own Kenmar Construction in Kirkland, have contacted at least one Muckleshoot tribal member to offer supplies and services. That tribal member, Sandra Ross, who lives with her four children in a dilapidated trailer, said she was overwhelmed by the couple's generosity.

• Russell Parks, of Seattle, a commercial fisherman and part-time carpenter, has contacted Muckleshoot tribal members to offer his services. Parks said he has access to "money and labor" that he could direct toward tribal needs.

• Kelly Jones, of Bonney Lake, a self-described jack-of-all-trades and self-taught builder, has contacted members of the Siletz Tribe on the Oregon coast to offer his various skills. "I'll bring all my own wrenches," he said.

In concept, Young's Red Feather Development Group (originally named the Big Foot Development Group) is modeled after Habitat for Humanity.

Young started the group in 1993 shortly after reading a newspaper article in Taos, N.M., about deplorable housing conditions among Native American elderly. The story, he recalled, described how some Native American elders had frozen to death during a particularly harsh winter.

At the time, Young was promoting his Seattle-based clothing company and had no background in charity or volunteerism.

"My biggest charitable contribution (before Red Feather) was throwing some change in a March-of-Dimes can," he said.

But the newspaper story stuck with him, and eventually he flew to South Dakota and toured the Pine Ridge reservation of the Oglala Sioux, reputed to have the worst conditions of any reservation in the nation. What he saw broke his heart and fueled a notion:

That's when the idea for the Red Feather Development Group was born.

Young used $4,000 of his own money to start the organization.

Since then, he has received financial support from a wide array of sources, including Costco co-founder Jeff Brotman and Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, who contributed $10,000 to the group. Other companies that have contributed include Eagle Hardware, Budget Rent-A-Car, and Mostly Muffins.

Nearly all the work done by Red Feather has been on the Pine Ridge reservation, but Young said he had been looking for an opportunity to help out in the Northwest. When he read about Ollie Wilbur, he knew he had his first Northwest project.

Wilbur's granddaughter, Lena Chavez, told her grandmother about the plans for the new ramp. Chavez takes care of Wilbur during the days and often is the only person who can communicate with her.

"I told her about it," Chavez said. "Her response was, `Thank you. Thank you.' "

For more information on the Red Feather Development Group, call Rob Young at (206) 453-7188, or send letters to P.O. Box 52652, Bellevue, WA 98015-2652.