The Silvas
Hey Gang! Johnny here and this week we find ourselves in Beautiful Warwick Rhode Island to help Out the Silva family! Now, Rhode Island might be the smallest state in the union but it's giant when it comes to spirit, community, hospitality, and of course food. Where else can you eat Johnny cakes (gotta love that name), stuffies (stuffed clams) and anywhere from Charleston beach to Warwick for the greatest clamcakes and chowder in the world! For a late night snack head on over to Haven Brothers for an incredible burger and wash it all down with an Awful Awful (thick milkshake), coffee, milk or my favorite, and a sure sign of summer - Del's Lemonade. Now I might sound a little partial, for my girl hails from this great state! But enough talk about food, just head to Federal Hill and you'll see what I'm talking about!
OK... for the business at hand! The Silva family! There's Mom, Doreen and dad, Ken, two of the most selfless people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. You look up "fantastic parents" in the dictionary, you will find a picture of these two! They have two biological kids, Kenny 14 who loves baseball and car racing, a love he inherited from his father. Then there is Mathew 11 who loves reading about history and playing his violin (both he and his brother have been diagnosed with mild forms of autism). You might think that for ken and Doreen that would be a handful to raise, well nosiree Bob! For not only have they adopted three more boys Isaiah, 6, Jayedin, 5, and little Sammy, 2, but have opened there hearts and home to foster even more!
I don't need to remind you but this doesn't have a storybook ending... yet. A few months back, following the kids physical examinations, they learned that they all had high levels of lead in their systems. The Rhode Island Department of Health issued the Silvas a letter stating the dangers of lead to their children and also informed them that if they did not remedy this problem that they may take the foster kids out of their home. Upon further testing of the home and grounds, the Silvas learned that their home is literally saturated with extremely high toxicity levels of lead. Ken and Doreen do not have the resources to remedy this frightening situation. They have put all of their financial resources towards raising their children. They have never even taken a vacation. That's is exactly why we are here this week...to give the Silvas a much needed break so they can not only raise their own children in a healthy environment but for their future foster kids as well!
Now this week was not easy, it was a build through bitter weather, from below freezing temperatures to massive snow ball fights, but Eric Johnson and Oldport Homes guided us through thick and thin! It was my Pleasure to design Isaiah and Jayedin's room, now these fantastic young sports fans are just that... sports fans. So this week being in New England you would think Great! Slam Dunk! Patriots, Red Sox, piece a cake right?... wrong! We got the Patriots part right but little Jayedin loves the New York Yankees (a man after my own heart). So after a few sleepless nights I decided to design their room as more of a sports room with an emphasis on the Pats and the Yanks, but no sports room is complete without an actual basketball court floor and since were in New England our friends at the Celtics donated the actual floor from the old Boston Garden! As they say here in Rhode Island that's "Wicked cool!"
None of this would have been possible without our great builder this week, Eric Johnson and the gang from Oldport Homes and from the bottom of my heart I thank you! To all the sponsors and subs without your dedication and perseverance this week would not have been possible. To CVS Pharmacy, Heidi, Stacy and the gang... you guys never cease to amaze me. And last but surely not least I would be remiss if I did not thank our hundreds if not thousands of Rhode Island volunteers, for without you we are nothing. As constant and sure as a Del's lemonade stand opens in the spring you, this week were the constant in our ability to bring the Silva family home!
Thanks again, Johnny!
