SALISBURY, Md. - A Salisbury family coping with a parent's illness gets an early Christmas present - they now have one less burden to worry about.
Crews work away, making a holiday wish come true for the Messick Family. They've won the "Delmarva's Neediest Roof" competition, and now a local construction company is hard at work, putting up a brand new roof.
"It's just a dream come true. You're talking about $10,000 - $15,000 worth of work that I'm getting done. It's just unbelievable," homeowner Janet Messick said.
The family built the home over 30 years ago. They raised their kids here and even started a pet boarding business right next door. Janet says she and her husband, Lee had planned to start doing repairs. But 2 years ago, he got a devastating diagnosis - stage four lung cancer.
"My husband was going to start working on it and we were going to slowly but surely do it. Then he just started getting sick. The next year or so, things - as we were saving up money to buy the shingles, he got worse. So the roof was just not going to happen. We were going to have to hire somebody to do it, and I just couldn't afford to get it done at that point. We built this house from the beginning. Did almost everything except maybe the brick work. We did it all. Every night after work we worked on the house. It took us two years. So, we love our house," Janet said.
Their story has touched the hearts of many in the community. "We know the stress on a man when he can't provide his own. So, we really wanted to alleviate something or him. That really tugged at our hearts at a really desperate time," marketing assistant for Spicer Bros. Construction Katie Thompson said.
"At first we just noticed shingles starting to deteriorate, and then the last year or so, it's been water leaking. It's been really bad. And I'm scared - Hurricane Sandy came through and I'm worried about my business and I'm also worried that the roof's going to come off the house. You know, it's not a good feeling not to have a solid roof over your head," Janet said.
But now thanks to the community and Spicer Bros., the Messick's can spend the holidays at home without fear.
All the work is expected to be completed by December 17 -WMDT will be there for the unveiling.
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