Family in a fix finds help!

[Michael Fisher]

An amazing story of the spirit of the people of New Hampshire.? The Underground had nothing to do with this one.


Family in a fix finds help
Volunteers mobilize to repair home that was condemned?
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050816/REPOSITORY/508160327/1031

By MARGOT SANGER-KATZ
Monitor staff
August 16. 2005 8:00AM

WARNER - Townspeople, local businesses and complete strangers have reached out to help a local family rebuild their recently condemned home.

Bryon and Wendy Ruff were ordered to "repair, raze or remove" their house last week, after the town health officer found trash, stray animals and animal feces inside. Fifty-seven animals were seized from the property, where a family of seven lived. In the days since, a handful of Good Samaritans have sprung into action, offering building supplies, construction expertise and trucks to bring trash to the dump.

Since the Ruffs were allowed to begin work on the condemned house on Thursday, they have cleaned up much of the mess inside the house, and cleared dozens of truckloads of garbage from the yard. Yesterday, they began covering the exposed insulation inside with plastic sheeting, fitting new floors and installing drywall. The selectmen's order requires that the family weatherproof and disinfect the house, build new interior walls and floors and clear the yard of trash. The Ruffs appear to be well on their way to reaching the requirements.

At each step, the family has received assistance from outsiders. Wendy Ruff's brother, John Place, has taken in her children and worked steadily to clean the property. Both Home Depot and the local Aubochon hardware store gave the family discounts on supplies. The selectmen have waived transfer station fees, and several other people have come out of the woodwork to offer their services and supplies.

"There are so many people in society who say, 'Why help out?'" said Kim Roy, of Sutton, who heard about the Ruff's situation on the news and has started an Internet group to organize donations of clothes, furniture and building supplies. "You need to help out."

Roy has a job as a hairdresser and a family, and is taking college classes, but she still has found time every day to visit the Ruffs and see what they need.
Tim Bologna, who runs a marketing business in Warner with his wife, has been at the Ruff house helping every day since he first heard their story from relatives. His daughters go to elementary school with one of the Ruff children, but he did not know the Ruffs until he showed up last week with his pickup truck and offered to bring trash to the dump.

Over the weekend, his wife and two young daughters pitched in alongside him, hauling trash and beginning repair work on the interior of the Ruffs' house. Yesterday, he worked there for several hours, showing the Ruffs' two teenage boys how to use his saw to cut and fit wood to cover the floor.

"There are too many people whining about it, and they've got to start doing something about it,"Bologna said. "These people need help and I just want to do it."

In the early afternoon yesterday, a maroon Dodge pickup truck with Massachusetts license plates pulled up to the house, with a truck bed full of drywall and wood. Ben Parker was making his third hour-long trip from Methuen, Mass. to bring supplies to the Ruffs. Like Roy, Parker saw a story on the Ruffs' house on the news, and decided to come and pitch in. .

"My heart goes out," he said. "I said, you know what, I want to go help these people."

The Ruff children gawked at Parker's shiny truck, but quickly started taking turns hauling the drywall into the house. With it, they hope to complete the walls for the 12-year-old daughter's upstairs bedroom.

Parker has convinced one of his friends who works in construction to volunteer for a day at the house to fix the roof. His wife and sister are both trying to gather donations from their workplaces so that they can buy the family new windows and doors.

"They're good, generous, helpful people," said Wendy Ruff as she looked over what the group had accomplished and described the work that the family and its helpers would do next. Last week, Ruff expressed concern that she would be able to complete the required repairs, but yesterday she imagined what her house would look like once the work was finished. "I want to decorate it and I want to get nice stuff," she said.

To Roy, Bologna and Harold French, another Warner resident who offered a day of labor to the Ruffs, their reward lies in knowing that they are helping the Ruff children stay together in their home. And, Roy suggested, there may be another benefit down the road.

"These kids might turn around and help somebody else someday,"Roy said.

By MARGOT SANGER-KATZ
Monitor staff

[KBCraig]

http://www.unionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=59330

Family gets the all-clear to move back into home
By TODD MORRISON
Union Leader Correspondent

WARNER ? The family of seven whose home was recently condemned was cleared to move back into its newly-improved home yesterday, according to officials.

"The place was spotless," said Warner health inspector Charles Durgin.

Durgin said that he and building inspector Ken Benward inspected the home belonging to Wendy and Bryon Ruff and their five children, and announced at 3:45 p.m. that they could move back in immediately.

Durgin said he believed the whole family stayed there last night.

Health officials condemned the building Aug. 9 because of what they said were unlivable conditions, and the state veterinarian seized 57 animals he said were in poor condition. Two days later, the town served the Ruffs with a list of improvements to be made before the house could be inhabited again.

The family passed their first inspection this past Tuesday, when officials approved improvements to the home's electrical system.

Other subsequent improvements include new flooring on both of the building's two stories. The home was also disinfected, a requirement after officials found animal urine and feces inside the house.

However, Durgin added, the Ruffs told him that drywall would be installed in the home's interior this weekend. It had not yet been installed but was not required for the Ruffs to move back in, he said.

Benward had given the family the okay to install drywall at Tuesday's inspection.

Durgin also said that 90 percent of the metal had been removed from the yard, including 10 unregistered vehicles. Concerns over the Ruff's yard is between the family and the town's board of selectmen, he said.

"That's not my thing," he said.

The Ruffs have not received custody of the animals that were taken, according to shelter officials who said yesterday their status remains in limbo. But Durgin said Wendy Ruff has acquired a new puppy in recent days.

Despite the improvements, Durgin was skeptical that the problem had been dealt with permanently. "We feel we've just put a Band-Aid on this thing," he said. "I hope I'm totally wrong."