Jeanette MacDonald’s Glace Bay home had fallen into disrepair. She was a single mother of two children and raised four grandchildren on her own.
So, she was used to making do with what she had.
“You live with what you have, it’s as simple as that,” MacDonald told Saltwire. “That’s what I do. I’m comfortable. People might not like it, but I’m comfortable.”
That one person who didn’t like it was Jeremy Locke. As the owner of a roofing and construction company, Locke couldn’t help but notice the awful shape her roof was in when he would drive by.
“I had it in my mind that if no one steps up to help this lady in our community, I’d be more than happy to,” said Locke.
Locke approached MacDonald, who lives with her four grandchildren, about fixing her roof. She told him she applied for a grant to have it fixed but refused his offer to help.
“I don’t like people doing anything for me for nothing,” MacDonald told Maritime Noon.
MacDonald instead promised that she would hire Locke when her grant came through.
But it never did. Still, Locke was determined to get that roof fixed for MacDonald and her grandchildren.
He told her that businesses will often run raffles to give away items or services and explained that his company was giving away a free roof.
“I think these things should be gifted to people who truly deserve and need it,” he told MacDonald, according to Aleteia.
MacDonald agreed to participate in the raffle.
“Once she agreed, I told her not to worry about it, that she had already won,” said Locke.
Locke said the materials have been purchased and his employees are donating their time to fix the roof.
“Our whole crew is excited,” said Locke.
Locke said that MacDonald reminds him of his own grandmother who raised him.
The work to be done is estimated at about $9,000. Though MacDonald was tricked into accepting a new roof, she wasn’t mad about it.
“A guardian angel, I’m telling you. There’s nobody out there like him,” said MacDonald.
Before Locke swooped in to help, MacDonald was struggling to keep her household in order on a state pension since she had to quit her job to raise her grandchildren.
She would keep her house warm with her wood-burning stove.
Pots and pans would be scattered around the house to catch rain during storms. Flooring throughout the house is uneven or missing in spots.
The beds have no frames. Just thin mattresses covered in thin blankets.
Instead of doors, blankets hang in the door frames.
Her grandsons would make makeshift repairs but it wasn’t a stable long-term solution. MacDonald said that Locke was “sent from God.” It’s not Locke’s first time helping someone in need either.
“I could win $1 million and it wouldn’t make me as happy as knowing I’m getting a new roof on, Jeremy is really something,” she said.
Locke did, however, request one thing from MacDonald: a nice homecooked meal.
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A ‘guardian angel’ tricked her into accepting a free roof
Jeanette MacDonald won a new roof in a lottery… but didn’t realize no one else had a ticket.
Via CBC Nova Scotia www.cbc.ca/1.5344397
Posted by CBC Prince Edward Island on Friday, November 8, 2019
