GLACE BAY, N.S. — The Glace Bay senior who finally received a grant to get vital work done to her home but then couldn’t secure a contractor says she has been rescued.
Jeanette MacDonald said workers from Alex Russell Contracting in North Sydney began the work Wednesday.
MacDonald said she’s grateful.
“He’s (Alex Russell) a nice man and his workers are awesome,” she said. “He’s the only one who came forward and stuck to it."
The grant from Housing Nova Scotia will provide siding on the porch, renovations to the bathroom, windows, doors, repairs to her kitchen cabinets and a new kitchen countertop and new fixtures in her house.
“It’s going to be unbelievable when it’s finished,” she said.
MacDonald's story began back in October when Jeremy Locke, the owner of Locke’s Roofing and Construction in Bridgeport, noticed the condition of MacDonald’s roof and knew a senior lived there, raising her four grandsons alone. In March, he stopped and offered to put one on for free, but not knowing him and not one to take handouts, she told him she had applied for a grant. In late fall he noticed the roof had not been repaired and again stopped by MacDonald's home and asked if she wanted to be included in a raffle for a new roof. MacDonald eventually accepted his offer of help, soon discovering she would have been the only one in the raffle. Praising Locke, MacDonald said this roof has changed her life.
In the meantime, the inside of her house was in dire need of renovations and after months of waiting, she was approved for a Housing Nova Scotia grant of up to $18,000. After having a contractor agree to do the work and waiting about a month and a half for the work to begin, MacDonald discovered the process hadn’t even been started and the contractor never submitted the paperwork. Following a story in the Post on MacDonald’s situation, Alex Russell, owner of Alex Russell Contracting, phoned her and immediately submitted paperwork.
Russell said his wife Sheila read the story in the Cape Breton Post.
“I called Jeanette the very next day,” he said. “Then it was all lickety-split from there, it didn’t take very long.”
Russell said they are going to do what they can and that while it won’t be a castle it will be much better for MacDonald and her grandsons compared to what they have now.
“She has a heart of gold,” he said. “You just couldn’t say no if you wanted to. She’s just so nice. She’s grateful for whatever she gets.”
Russell said Nova Scotia Housing deserves a lot of credit and that they are good people for stepping up and upping the grant to help MacDonald out.
“They went an extra mile for her,” he said. "They went out of their way to help her.”
Along with the grant work, Russell said his company will be doing some extras such as some crack filling and painting.
“We’ll spruce it up a bit more. It’s not in the contract but I’m going to throw in a little bit more.”
Since the Cape Breton Post reported the story of Locke’s good deed in October, there has been an outpouring of support from the community including companies that have contributed everything from a new chimney to heat pumps, to former Lingan resident Bobby Hanrahan, now of Ontario, who purchased four beds and bedding.
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