Neighbors Helping Neighbors
If Kenneth ‘Kenny’ Claro and Ray ‘Ray Ray’ Werwie Jr. had not stepped up to help, Enzo Tannozzini would have been in long-term rehab.
Instead, through a series of happenstances, Tannozzini’s happily back home.
The World War II veteran had fallen and broken his hip. Now he could come home … if their Franklin Manor home had wheelchair access. With little hope and less money, wife Juanita Tannozzini didn’t know what to do.
Learning about the plight of his old acquaintances, Claro volunteered to build the needed ramp. Werwie told Claro he’d help, too; Juanita is, after all, his sister-in-law.
The next evening, the partners gathered lumber from Home Depot’s cull rack along with materials donated by Jerry Blinzley. Work began on the third day.
Again coincidence came into play as Blinzley’s son Matt — with no construction job that day — volunteered his labor.
The three went to work with hammers, saws and combined experience to finish the ramp late on the fourth day.
And on the fifth day, Tannozzini was pushed up his new ramp and back home again.
This was no one-time charity for either Werwie or Claro.
After Hurricane Isabel, Claro helped clean up and repair nine houses in Franklin Manor. Veterans are their special concern; next month, they will put a new roof on the home of a veteran in Avalon Shores.
Werwie has partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Veterans Affairs to open his northwest Pennsylvania farm to veterans for four hunts a year. After equipping his home with an ADA bathroom and other modifications for access, Werwie and his wife Pam hosted their first turkey hunt this spring.
“It’s not about problems,” Werwie says. “It’s about solutions.”
To help with donations or labor, contact Kenny Claro, 301-399-9589, or RayRay Werwie, 240-691-9255.