The folks from Grace Klein Community asked if any of our clients might need a food basket, so Frank has been contacting people he felt may be in need. A client in the Chelsea area that we had helped a few times came to mind. She was one of our first clients in 2008 when her husband was on hospice, and she was helping to raise two granddaughters. Now a widow, she told Frank the food basket would be very much appreciated, but she was in desperate need of repairs to the floors in her home.

Frank scheduled a time to meet with her and assess the damage. He found that the entire foundation was bad, and the joists were dry-rotted. Knowing this job needed more extensive expertise, Frank consulted with Jason Waltman, owner of Grace Klein Construction. It has been determined that this home’s foundation is infected with termites. Their recommendation—short of demolition and rebuilding—is to replace soft spots in the flooring. This patch will not solve the client’s foundation problem, but it will prevent the danger of her floors collapsing.

Last Saturday, January 21, 2012, five volunteers braved the rainy weather to work on the flooring in a bedroom of the home. Places in this bedroom floor were so “spongy” that it just crumbled during removal. They worked on shoring up the subfloor, and secured new plywood flooring.