Auction Napa Valley literally uplifts Janet Wilson and her power chair.

With $5,200 donated through the bids of partying wine lovers, Wilson, 56, no longer has to make a treacherous trek up a steep ramp to get to her front door at Salvador Mobile Estates in Napa. A nonprofit group built her a lift that takes her from the driveway to her porch, much like an elevator.

The lift replaces the old ramp that also blocked part of her small driveway, making what should be a simple climb into her van an annoying, strenuous chore.

Wilson has debilitating arthritis in her knees and ankles, making it hard for her to stand for more than a couple minutes. She mostly lives off disability money from the state -- not an easy life by county affordability standards -- and couldn't have afforded to build the lift.

Enter Auction Napa Valley and Community Resources for Independence. Auction money that went to Community Resources for Independence was used to build the power lift that delivers Wilson to her front door.

The millions in money gained by Auction Napa Valley each year makes splashy headlines when it's tallied up, but the dollars start their real work after the party ends and auction officials decide where to send the money.

Then the nonprofits who benefit go to work doing what they do.

"Auction monies really affect nearly everyone in the county," said Terry Hall, Napa Vintners spokesperson. "If it doesn't affect you it affects someone on your staff or team."

It certainly allows Community Resources for Independence to make disabled life more bearable for some of their clients. The Santa Rosa-based organization with an office in Napa gained a $20,000 grant last year from Auction Napa Valley for its Housing Access Modification program.

The program hires contractors for the disabled to do whatever it is they need around the house to make their lives more livable, be it lower countertops, raise toilet seats or build lifts to replace ramps.

"We're really a conduit for people that have any questions or problems," said Vaughn Held, Housing Access Modification manager. "When they become disabled they can come to us. We can help them get back to as normal as possible a life as they had before (they were disabled)."

The program does a physical inspection of each site and asks beneficiaries like Wilson about their daily lives and what can be done to improve them. Wilson had no idea at first that the agency could help her with the ramp, but after talking to an employee there about finding some help with yard work, the conversation drifted to the troubles her old ramp gave her.

Soon Wilson was put in touch with Held, who as a paraplegic knows firsthand the needs of wheelchair-dependent folks.

"Now I can come out anytime I want to and not worry about moving my car," Wilson said about her trips to run errands. "They have it set so that it'll be even with the floor."

The program has given her other ideas to make her life even simpler, like lowering her countertops and bringing her washer and dryer together in one room.

For now, though, Wilson is happy with her lift, and her two grandsons like to climb in and ride it to the porch, demonstrating for strangers the efficiency of their grandmother's new contraption.

"I'm really happy with this," Wilson said.