The Freelove's Story

Around the house, it’s very common to stop noticing things we experience every day, even small annoyances like a dripping faucet or loose floorboard.  After all, lives are busy, and homes are for enjoying.  However, when a small inconvenience becomes dangerous, it catches our attention once more.

Marsha and Leonard Freelove had just that experience in their Newfield home.  The floor of their mobile home had become worn in places, and Marsha and Leonard each had fallen through small holes in the kitchen and living room.  They patched them as well as possible, or just avoided them. With a lot going on, it was good enough.  Caring for their disabled son, Mark is a large part of their days and nights. Add in work, church, scouting and other activites, like following the Yankees, a favorite of Mark’s, and the Freeloves were too busy living their lives to worry about it much.

Until Mark had back surgery last September.  Marsha remembers, “It wasn’t long after that, he was rolling his heavy electronic wheelchair across the living room and the floor was sagging under it.  I became very fearful that he would fall through the floor, and couldn’t let that happen”.

Still, the know-how and material costs to fix the floor were huge hurdles.  While at a quilter’s retreat, Marsha wept when she mentioned their dilemma to the other women from her church.  “I was surprised.  I hadn’t realized how much it upset me that he could be hurt until I started talking about it”.

A few weeks after that, they got a call from a fellow parishoner at People’s Baptist Church.  “They said to start packing up because Better Housing was going to help us!  We were amazed”.

The floor repair project was a community effort, led by two fellow parishoners, Deacon Karl Maki and Dan Winch, who is also on Better Housing’s Board of Directors..  People’s Baptist Church provided the flooring materials with donations, storage in neighbors’ barns, and volunteer help.  The Newfield Good Neighbor Fund contributed as well, and  Better Housing’s staff members, Charlie, Keith and Si provided expertise and the skill to lay the subflooring throughout most of the home.  Now the kitchen, dining area and living room are safe for Mark and his parents, and will be for years.

“It was the most wonderful crew of people.  They worked hard to get it done quickly, but were lighthearted and easy to talk to at the same time”,  Marsha recalls.  “We were able to learn how to do it ourselves by watching, and we’ll be able to fix the floors in the bedrooms ourselves later on.  Most importantly, Marsha and Leonard know their son can maneuver his large power wheelchair in the home without fear of breaking through the floors.  Which makes it even easier to get back to just enjoying their home, and maybe even a Yankees game on the TV.