YARMOUTH, N.S. — TRI-COUNTY VANGUARD
It had been six-months since Heather Nickerson and her 11-year-old daughter Kaleigh had been in their Chegoggin Point family home.
On March 20, Heather’s husband Anthony and twin teenage sons, Michael and James, along with a large group of volunteers watched her reaction after returning to her totally renovated Yarmouth County home.
The Nickersons have experienced some difficult challenges over the past decade.
Kaleigh was born with scoliosis. Heather suspects her daughter suffered a stroke shortly after birth, leaving her with limited verbal ability and requiring constant supervision. Scoliosis is an abnormal curvature of the spine. In the past, Kaleigh required surgery every six to nine months. The procedure involved having her spine cut open to reposition pins.
Anthony and their sons, meanwhile, work at fish processing plants but are now on unemployment.
The family's home was in dire need of repair, but they continued to struggle in place over the years – unable to leave because of sentimental attachment and financial difficulties.
But the house had countless difficulties of its own.
Inside the house, gyprock had fallen away in chunks from the lathwork behind. The bathtub and shower looked like a flamethrower had been taken to the surface, due to an extremely high concentration of iron, with no water treatment unit in place.
There was a new furnace but no money for oil to fill it. The house was heated, with a cracked woodstove, but there was little insulation. And on it went.
When members of an organization called Humankind NS asked if they could organize some help for the family, no one could even have imagined the level that help would reach.
Businesses and volunteers turned out by the dozens to help renovate the house.
Some companies partnered to provide a new oil tank and fill it, as well as furnace upgrades. Others donated a new washing machine, siding for the house, plumbing supplies and labour, lumber, windows, etc. The list goes on and on.
A spokesperson for the project says close to $150,000 in funds and materials were donated, in addition to 3,000 to 4,000 hours of labour.
During the renovation period, the Nickersons were able to stay at a donated Airbnb.
Those who have been involved with the project say it truly has been about human kindness.
Wendy Wedge says it has been a beautiful thing to witness the response from people, especially from the community.
“Without a doubt, the people here fiercely defend the vulnerable,” she says. “There is no 'fashion fad' in supporting neurodiversity here. It is in the blood, it's a given.”
Humankind NS started as a group of men who got together to hang out and chat about life's joys and challenges, while using the time to bless those needing a hand. But the Nickerson project drew men and women together with a common objective.
Wedge says the pandemic served to “sift from us all the unimportant things.”
“Every donation of money, from the $15 cheque written in a shaky hand, to the humbling $1,000 from a couple whom we knew themselves had struggled to make it by in the past year, pushed the project forward," she says.
“Many may wring their hands in frustration at the selfishness of the younger generation, but we have witnessed faithful hard work from the young people here, turning up in all weather and sacrificing many pairs of jeans and leggings!”
She has glowing praise for the social services program at NSCC Burridge, which has been “incredibly supportive” in working at the house and fundraising.
Mike Wedge says there weren’t any real challenges in the project, only success stories. Many times he would post an item or skill required for a job on social media and the next day someone would step up.
“There wasn’t one person that came to do work at this house that had an attitude or entitlement or wasn’t prepared to do what they were asked to do,” he says.
Linda Hubbard and her husband cooked a full dinner for the work crew every Saturday and paid for it out of their own pocket.
Even the Nickersons' animals were shown love. The chickens were cared for in a local couple’s spare chicken coop during their owner's absence.
Another family went everyday over the six months to feed the kittens and take care of the rabbits – even renovating the rabbit dwelling in addition.
This is a lot of family history within these walls. Wendy Wedge says Heather's grandparents were a “colorful and generous couple” in the community. Avid members of the Bluenose Twirlers, they hosted square dances in their hay barn and brought in live bands for music.
Their home was a gathering place.
“Heather says ‘they would have been right in there (with Humankind NS), doing what they could to help, that's how they were," she says. "Always helping people in need with what they had, and that would have been just about anybody – especially people in the community."