Vets for Vets and local contractor help Tinicum family with new roof
Christmas arrived early this 12 months for Margaret Pietzsch.
As the 76-12 months-aged woman sat about a firepit Wednesday afternoon, together with her son and two daughters, she viewed the respond to to her prayers arrive by.
Volunteers from Vets for Vets and roofers from Catalfano Brothers arrived with each other that chilly December working day to help you save Pietzsch’s property which had been betrayed by a roof defeat with a great number of leaks.
“Thank god for all these individuals who arrived to acquire care of our relatives. It’s a blessing and a Christmas gift,” claimed Pietzsch, whose late husband, retired Sgt. Wayne Pietzsch, served in the U.S. Marines.
The roof of their Tinicum house started leaking 10 many years ago, but Pietzsch’s husband was in a position to patch it up as required. The moment he handed away all through the holiday year four decades in the past, her son, Jeffrey, ongoing what upkeep he could, but ultimately the harm became too a great deal to correct.
“It was seriously lousy. Virtually each individual part of the house was leaking” said Pietzsch’s oldest daughter, Kathleen, who life in the household with her mom.
With each rainstorm, they would use regardless of what containers they could locate — buckets, storage totes, trash bags, soup cans — to catch the drinking water pouring into each and every home of the dwelling. They would sleep in shifts each individual evening, keeping vigil in excess of the residence.
“It was the way we experienced to do it because we didn’t know when a leak would get even worse or if there’d be a distinct leak,” Pietzsch stated. “I just cried each night time and mentioned god, how are we likely to endure.”
Tarps lined the roof with tires put throughout to retain the wind from blowing away the home’s past-ditch exertion at defense. But as the leaks continued to worsen to the point that the ceiling was slipping down close to them, Pietzsch ultimately realized it was time to ask for assist.
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So, she arrived at out to Vets for Vets, a Telford-centered corporation that gives aid to veterans and their family members with needed property repairs and renovations.
Brodie Lightcap, a Marine veteran and outreach coordinator for Vets for Vets, obtained the ask for. On checking out the home, he could see how fraught the family’s condition had become, so he reached out to Charlie Catalfano with Catalfano Brothers, a roofing enterprise in close by Springfield Township.
“I am eternally grateful to Charlie simply because, for the scope of this task, we couldn’t shell out for it out of pocket,” said Lightcap, who approximated the price of the job at all-around $30,000. “Being equipped to phone Charli and say this family needs a new roof is one particular of the most effective assets I have.”
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Catalfano, whose father is a Vietnam veteran, available up his crew, arranged for the vital supplies to be donated and agreed to cover any of the remaining charges himself.
“My father was a Maritime and he was major in the American Legion. He would donate his time and donate his income. I figured it is my turn to aid out, and this is how I can do it,” he mentioned.
Lightcap identified as the veteran neighborhood a tightknit family, which is why he mentioned Vets for Vets was prepared to move up when Kathleen arrived to them for aid.
“The root of all their complications was their roof. So, if we can choose care of that and get it to the place that it is not actively raining in their household, then which is a start out,” he explained.
When Lightcap called the family to allow them know they’d be getting a new roof, Pietzsch and her kids felt a sense of reduction and hope.
“It’s a blessing, it’s a wonder, it’s a prayer answered,” stated Pietzsch’s young daughter, Regina Bush.
Recognizing their property will be free of charge of leaks, Kathleen Pietzsch explained she and her mom appear forward to remaining able to slumber at evening.
“It’s just the finest Xmas reward any person could’ve presented our family members,” she mentioned.
How to assistance:
For much more facts on Vets for Vets and how to aid the firm by way of donations or volunteer options, take a look at soldiertocivilian.org.
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