Somers family to get free
home insurance
| |
| Somers residents
Jim and Gina Arena were officially notified that they will receive
free homeowners insurance for one year from the Harleysville
Insurance company during a press conference last Thursday at
their home, which was completely rebuilt from its foundation
recently for the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
program on ABC. |
by Neal Rentz
The past few months could be described as a whirlwind for the Arena
family.
Their home on Buenta Way in Somers was completely remodeled by the
ABC television network for its program, "Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition," which was broadcast on May 14.
While they adore their revamped home, it does come with a cost - homeowners
insurance.
But the Harleysville Insurance company in Yonkers is doing something
to help.
During a press conference last Thursday at the Arenas' home, representatives
of the company presented the family with free homeowners insurance
for one year.
According to the ABC website, Jim and Gina Arena's late son, Jimmy,
"changed an entire community forever."
The child, known in the area as "Jimmyboy," lost his battle
with an inoperable brain tumor on September 28, 2005, shortly after
his sixth birthday.
Before he died, Jimmy inspired hundreds of local residents, including
members of several fire departments, to hold a series of fund-raisers
to help the Arena family with expenses associated with his treatments.
The story of the family, which includes six daughters, touched officials
from ABC and the network decided to knock down the Arena's 1,500-square-foot
home to its foundation and had it rebuilt to an approximately 3,500-square-foot
house through the efforts of local volunteers and in just five days.
Mrs. Arena noted that her family returned to their new home on April
28.
Upon walking to the house for the first time, she recalled that her
first reaction was "Oh, my God!"
"It more than we could have ever done," Mr. Arena said.
"It's more than we could have every possibly dreamed of,"
Mrs. Arena said.
A very special room created for the family features a tribute to their
late son, the couple said.
"They created what they called the Miracle of Life Room,"
Mrs. Arena said. "It has a fire department theme, a lot of pictures
of Jimmy throughout the room and (pictures) of the community and everything
they did for us, and a desk that was made out of our old cabinets
that Jim's grandfather built when we first purchased the house --
he was a cabinetmaker."
"We really didn't know what to say when we walked in there. It
was just a very emotional moment," she said.
Mr. Arena said he particularly likes the master bedroom.
"It's ours. We've been married for 19 years and we had our own
bedroom, but it was kind of like it was the children's center of attention
room. They were always in it," he said. "Now, our bedroom
is ours. That's my favorite room because we have some peace and quiet
in there."
"What stands out for me is the amount of personal touch that
goes into the house that people don't get to see on TV," Mrs.
Arena said. "There's paintings on the walls that were painted
by my uncle who has passed away."
There are several photographs placed throughout the home of members
of the Arena family that were taken the day before the family left
and the home was knocked down, she noted.
While their house was being rebuilt, the family was provided with
a free vacation in Walt Disney World by ABC.
The home includes three bedrooms, two-and-one-half bathrooms, and
central air conditioning.
Mrs. Arena said her neighbors "are all thrilled" about her
new home.
"Our neighborhood got very stressed (during the reconstruction),"
she said. "But they enjoyed it, so it wasn't like a bad stress."
"It was a busy place for a week," Mr. Arena said.
There were no complaints about noise or other matters related to the
effort to create the new home by neighbors, Mrs. Arena said.
"They were mostly here working," she said.
The family praised the efforts of their neighbors for not only giving
their time and effort to construct the new home, but also for what
they did on their behalf when Jimmy was ill.
"They never faltered for the 20 months Jimmy was sick. They were
always right behind us," Mr. Arena said, and his wife noted the
"very huge" support provided by local fire departments throughout
Westchester County.
Being given the new house has changed their family's life, Mrs. Arena
said.
"It's one more thing that we don't have to stress over because
Jimmy was sick for 20 months. And between the community support and
what we had saved to redo the house, it all went towards Jimmy's treatments,"
she said.
"So, now we don't really have to stress about getting the house
done and we've started Jimmy's organization, which is now official."
Just Imagine - Making Miracles Yours was created "to help children
with life-threatening diseases and/or injury in Westchester or Putnam
counties," she noted.
The organization will help assist with medical expenses or provide
plane tickets if needed by a family, for example, Mrs. Arena said.
For its part, Harleysville Insurance is doing its part to help the
Arena family.
Ted Majewski, the company's senior vice president of personal lines,
said the ABC show was recently constructing a home in Philadelphia
and one of his colleagues with Harleysville watched the program and
the company agreed to provide that family with free insurance.
The Arena family is the third to receive free insurance and Harleysville
is working to providing the same service to a fourth family, Majewski
noted.
"It's worth doing something like this," he said. "It
just seemed like the right thing to do."
Maria Wasiczko, an agent with the company said, "It was a nice
feeling to just walk in and you know it's a home, not just a house."
Mrs. Arena, who is pregnant with a son, thanked the insurance company.
"It's a very big help because everything changes, financially,
once the show leaves," she said. "This will be a big help
until we get everything settled financially."
