Volunteers help youth with cerebral palsy

SWAMPSCOTT – Glenn and Hilory Paster were looking for a little advice after their contractor walked out on a renovation project aimed at making their home fully accessible for their 16-year-old son, Sam, who was born with cerebral palsy. What they got was a lesson in love.”We saved, saved, saved, we got a contractor, he went over budget, then he walked out,” said Glenn Paster. “But that’s not the story.”Friday Glenn Paster woke at 5:30 a.m. to the sounds of construction workers. A few hours later his home was crawling with carpenters, painters and landscapers who proceeded to down walls, tear up the patio and essentially got down to the work of giving the Pasters a nearly new home.”We’ll have this wrapped up 100 percent by Wednesday,” said Michael Brait.Michael Brait, along with his brothers Bob and Stephen, runs Brait Builders out of Marshfield, which generally builds schools.Glenn Paster said after the contractor walked out he mentioned his dilemma to a friend, Fred Law, who serves on the Board of Directors for New England Disabled Sports, where Sam Paster participates.”I just asked Bob (Brait) could you help us finish this one room,” Law said.Hilory Paster said the project was about 80 percent done and they were simply looking for a little advice on how to finish it off on their own.”We said this is what we have left of construction materials and this is the money we have left,” Glenn Paster said. “They said we don’t want money.”Michael Brait said it was an easy project to say yes to.”We came by and we met Sam and he just captured our hearts,” Michael Brait said. “We just fell in love with him right away. Obviously the family got a bad rap.”Michael Brait said he put out a call to several of their work sites for volunteers and told the Pasters they’d bang the project out in a weekend.Glenn Paster said he was surprised however when the Braits began to make changes. He said as they toured the project they saw things they didn’t like or that didn’t work.”They doubled their own project,” Law said.Volunteers came from the painters union and offered to not only do the finish work inside the house but paint the entire outside of the home as well. Sherwin Williams donated all the paint, Michael Brait said. He also said when he was short a few carpenters he called the local union and they sent four instead of the two he asked for. When it was determined the back patio needed to be replaced in order to accommodate a new doorway that would give Sam Paster access to the backyard, a call went out to Leahy Landscapers.”He sent a whole crew over,” Michael Brait said. “He didn’t have to do that.”Turns out Matt Leahy, who owns the landscape company, lives right down the street from the Pasters and was more than happy to help.More than 30 workers hammered, nailed and sawed their way through the Paster’s home Friday extending the dining room by a few feet, adding a mud room and planning to redo the wheelchair ramp. Out back another wall came down to make room for what Hilory Paster called her fantasy door, a wide door that slides open with no barrier to prevent Sam’s wheelchair from passing.Inside the home, workers added a built-in dresser and shelves to Sam’s closet, which were raised so he could reach them from his chair. Hilory Paster designed the bathroom, which includes a roll-in shower and a sink also at a height to accommodate Sam’s chair.”They are really making a house with universal design for Sam,” said Hilory. “They are giving him a gift I don’t think even he realizes what it will mean. It’s independence.”Both Pasters said that any expression of gratitude seems inadequate in the face of what they are receiving.”We bought coffee and donuts and pizza for lunch because it was the least we could do,” Glenn Paster said. “And they’re saying thank you to us for letting them be a part of this.”Hilory Paster said the only way they could ever repay the gift is to help someone else.”These guys helped us,” she said. “You get beaten down but thi