Somerset County's Heartworks Helps with Home Renovation for Handicapped Child

By Brenda Miller

Charlotte Downey, a multiply-handicapped 11-year-old girl whose father is a retired Marine seargent, really needed a handicap-accessible bathroom. Heartworks, the Bernardsville-based acts-of-kindness group, and Coppola Brothers LLC, a Clinton-based construction management company, stepped in to make it happen.

But they saw that Charlotte’s family really needed much more: a functioning kitchen, a living space that could accommodate all of Charlotte’s medical equipment and a place to eat. Charlotte had been living in the dining room as the stairs in the old Victorian home had become too difficult to tackle all the time.

Heartworks kicked off a campaign in January to raise the $125,000 needed to complete the project, and Coppola Brothers LLC worked with tradespeople and vendors to raise in-kind gifts of more than $100,000. While those goals weren’t quite met, they raised enough money to get started. They built the addition, but pulling together all the inside work loomed.

To help drive down costs, talented people donated their time. When some West Point cadet friends of Frank Coppola’s (owner of Coppola Brothers LLC) wanted to help, two cadets came down from West Point on Saturday to put in many hours of labor and entertain Charlotte, who could not stop watching.

Stopping by to cheer for the cadets and crew was 88-year-old CSM(R) James N. Phinney, another friend of Coppola’s.

Several thousand dollars are still needed to complete this project. Anyone interested in Charlotte’s story, and to donate to assist in the completion of the project can go to https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/hcx6 . Heartworks also accepts donation for their Children’s Fund, which has made a sizeable donation for this project. Please see www.njheartworks.org for their information.

Photo caption:

Back Row Left To Right: Michael Downey (Father), Karen Skirka (CBLLC employee), Alice Jones (volunteer) Claire Masters (volunteer), Nick Grieco (volunteer), Matt Grieco (CBLLC employee), Jeff Wisniewski [on ladder] (CBLLC employee), CSM(R) James N. Phinney [WWII Normandy Beach Vet} (volunteer), Cory Downey (brother). Front Row left to Right. Linda Downey (mother), Frank Coppola (volunteer), DJ Malone (west point cadet volunteer), Charlotee Downey, DaShawn May (west point cadet volunteer)