Support rolls in for mother of special-needs child Several local companies constructed a sidewalk for the Canton family after their home was built recently by Habitat for Humanity
Christa Bolen kissed her young son, Kobe, and watched for a few minutes Wednesday afternoon as several workers laid down a concrete sidewalk outside their new Canton Township home to help her push him in his specialized wheelchair.
Bolen and her two children moved into their single-floor, three-bedroom home built by Habitat for Humanity in October, but a gravel path left around the house made it too difficult for her to maneuver Kobe’s wheelchair outside.
That prompted Bill Paradise, owner of On The Level Construction, to encourage several local companies to donate materials and manpower in another show of support following a string of help given to Bolen and her 4-year-old special-needs son.
“I’ve been blessed. We really appreciate it,” Bolen said of the community’s support. “I think I’ve been getting all the help I can get.”
That support has been coming in since Kobe was assaulted by his biological father, Keith Long, in September 2010 when the boy was just 5 months old. As a result of the injuries inflicted by Long, Kobe is unable to walk or speak.
Make-A-Wish is currently building a specialized therapy room in the basement, and the only way to reach it would have been using stairs or a gravel path around the house. The sidewalk will allow Bolen to easily take Kobe to the therapy room once it’s completed next summer.
“It’s awesome,” Bolen said. “I didn’t think they were going to donate it and do this for us.”
Paradise paid for the labor, while also getting Donaldson Concrete of Canonsburg to donate cement and Russell Brothers of Washington to provide the metal rebar supports in the sidewalk. In all, he estimates they saved the family about $3,000 in construction costs.
“It’s just nice to give back,” Paradise said. “I mean, how was she going to push him on that gravel?”
It also is a much-needed and unexpected home improvement for Bolen, who works in the mornings while Kobe is at the Intermediate Unit One Educational Campus at Laboratory and her 9-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, is at school.
“When I’m not working, I’m a full-time mother of two,” she said.