Video: Dozens of volunteers work to give Buffalo boy a better home on Milton Street
BUFFALO -- A swarm of volunteers descended on a two-story house on Milton Street this morning to give a 13-year-old bed-ridden boy a home where he can get fresh air.
They raked and weeded, pulled insulation from the second-floor rooms and hauled big bags of debris to the curb.
But the major work is yet to come.
A coalition of agencies working with Cricket Communication hope to make the vacant house into a livable home for Sal Zirpola and his son, Justin.
"It's overwhelming," Zirpola said this morning as he watched the volunteers from the porch of the vacant home.
It all started with Justin's Make-A-Wish request more than two years ago.
Justin, who was born with Down Syndrome and has had a series of debilitating complications since then, asked the organization to make over the room in his second-story apartment.
Justin suffers from uncontrolled seizures and spinal stenosis and spends most of his time in a hospital bed.
But at 85 pounds and growing, it is a struggle for Zirpola to carry his son outside. For six years, Zirpola said, Justin has been stuck inside except in emergency situations.
AmeriCorps volunteer Lametrius Parker, 18, throws debris out the window this morning as he works on demolition in a stairwell at the future home of Sal Zirpola, who is caring for his seriously ill son, Justin, during an extreme makeover coordinated by Cricket Communications, Make-A-Wish, WNY AmeriCorps and Hospice Buffalo. (Derek Gee / Buffalo News)
So Sal Zirpola bought a house at auction that he thought he could renovate. He planned to turn the first-floor dining room into a bedroom for Justin that could open up to a ramp outdoors.
"They said the house was half done and all I had to do was the second half," Zirpola said. "Then I found out they did the first half all wrong."
Then, seven months ago, Zirpola's wife died. Renovating the house, he said, became too much.
Enter the volunteers from Cricket. The workers partnered with Make-A-Wish Foundation of Western New York, WNY AmeriCorps., Hospice Buffalo, Essential Care for Children under the company's Rebuilding Together program to help the Zirpolas.
The group is still looking for licensed electricians and contractors to help with the project.
Matt Crane, an AmeriCorps supervisor, said work will continue for six to eight weeks.
"We want to make sure that everything is livable for the family," Crane said. "They have special needs, and that's our first priority."
