Residents perfom miracle for neighbor
Published: September 28, 2005
Of the dozens of people painting, sanding and cleaning in Marge Goodwin’s home Tuesday night, fewer than a handful had ever met her.
A victim of multiple sclerosis who has been confined to a wheelchair for a decade, Goodwin, 66, decided about two years ago to take a mortgage out on her home, which she owned outright, and use the money to make wheelchair-accessible improvements.
“Someone, a family member living with her, took mom’s money and tore the house apart to renovate it and gutted the house,” said Goodwin’s daughter, Debbie Thompson.
That family member, who Thompson declined to name, took Goodwin’s money and left the home in shambles. Lehi police said criminal charges are pending in the case, which has been turned over to federal investigators.
“She had no kitchen, no living room, and the bedroom was half done,” Thompson said. “She’s lived that way for a year and a half.”
But the theft of her renovation fund was not the end of Goodwin’s troubles.
“In late August, Marge had a stroke/MS episode and she was in the hospital,” said Goodwin’s pastor, Chuck Lovelady of the Timpanogos Baptist Church.
Goodwin has lost the use of her left hand and has been in a full-time rehabilitation center for the past several weeks, he said. She is expected to be released as soon as Oct. 5.
“We’re trying to get her place fixed up enough that she can come home,” he said.
The effort, which is being spear-headed by Linda Turner of the Lehi Community Council, will go on each day until Goodwin’s return. Several LDS Church wards have already sent groups to work on the project even though Goodwin is not of their faith and they haven’t met her, Turner said.
“She has been taken advantage of, and the money is gone,” said Turner. “We are coming in to help her. We’re trying to get this all done so when she comes home she will be in a comfortable home.”
The renovation will include widening doorways, replacing all carpet with linoleum to improve wheelchair access, rebuilding a bathroom and a shower to make them wheelchair accessible, and other basic improvements, Turner said.
One friend of the family already has donated $5,000, she said, and an LDS singles ward has promised $500, but much more is needed. Turner is hoping to find people to donate gutters to go over the exterior doors, a ramp for the back door, a new mailbox, kitchen counters, stove and hood vent, garbage disposal, wallpaper for the pantry, three 36-inch doors, molding, hand-held shower head, lights, sofa, small gas furnace, and other items.
People with expert skills, including the ability to install molding, fix windows and install a small furnace, among other things, also are needed.
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