(MACHIAS) - While the glare of the media spotlight has been focused on a unique construction project in the Cattaraugus County Town of Machias - where volunteers have been building a new home for a local family whose young sons have a rare chromosome disorder that has forced them to survive with breathing tubes in their necks - very little has been said or noted about the involvement from Organized Labor, which has played both a key and vital role.

Since the first week of October, a number of Union Carpenters, Electricians and Operating Engineers - as well as a number of Union Contractors who donated an array of construction materials and services - have volunteered their time to help build a nearly 4,000-square-foot home for the Eisenhardt Family and their two sons, Dalton, 10, and Wyatt, 8.  The boys reportedly suffer from the transmutation of chromosome 15, which leaves them susceptible to lung infections.  Both boys, who live with breathing tubes in their necks, cannot verbally speak and communicate through sign language. 

The family has been dealing with mounting medical bills and their old, rented home was not equipped to handle the needed medical equipment to aid the boys and provide adequate living quarters for around-the-clock nurses.  Through the help of many, including the First Christian Church of Machias, which donated a plot of property located next door to the church for the house and is being provided to the family mortgage and rent-free, the Eisenhardts are expected to move into their new home this Saturday.

"I live in Machias and I know the family," retired International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 17 retiree David Wright told WNYLaborToday.com, sharing his personal story of involvement in helping make the Eisenhardt Family's dream of a new home reality.

"They were just going to build an addition on to their old home, but when I went to see it, I told them they weren't going to put another nickel into it.  It was a piece of crap.  So during the first week of October (after the First Christian Church donated a plot of property located next door to the church for the home), I reached out to Organized Labor.  All I had to do was ask, and they came.  Not that anyone has asked, but I tell everyone I see that Labor Unions and their members are involved in this project.  Everything has been done on a shoestring and with the donations that have been made, we're fortunate to finish it off," Wright said.

"Years ago, people did these kinds of things for each other," continued Wright, a 30-year member of IUOE Local 17.  "They build homes and barns for their neighbors.  It's the same thing the Amish do, but we've gotten away from that.  Organized Labor was a big factor in this.  Every time I called, they stepped forward.  Talk about 'on time and under budget.'  That's why you build Union."

Jeff Aiken is Council Representative for the Olean-based Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters Local 66.  He received a call from Wright for help and four members of his Union quickly volunteered their time at the home site, which needed additional work because of a large amount of "specialized medical equipment."

"This was a good thing," Aiken told WNYLaborToday.com.  "The people who helped this family come from this area.  These people care about those who live in their community.  I hope people not only remember that, but keep it in mind when work goes to out-of-towners on public projects.  Someone from Ohio who comes in here to work isn't going to get involved in a project like this.  The general public needs to remember that local people depend on local jobs."

IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Local 41 Business Agent Jud Payne tells WNYLaborToday.com his Local's members who volunteered their time on the project "came back feeling good."

"They said they just loved the kids and it was really a sincere group effort," said Payne, who noted more than 40 members from Orchard Park-headquartered IBEW Local 41 participated in the project.  "(Organized Labor) gets a lot of negative press and more of this (volunteering of time on community projects) goes on than anyone ever knows.  It's nice to create the awareness, but our guys were happy to do it.  Our contractors stepped up and provide materials.  This project didn't get anywhere near the fanfare of the Extreme Home Makeover project in Buffalo a couple of weeks back, but this is a story that warms your heart."

Added IUOE Local 17 Retiree Wright: "This was really a 'Labor of Love.'"

Michael Wlostowski is a Union Painting Contractor who owns Spraytech Coatings, Inc. in Blasdell, which employs four members of Painters District Council 4's Buffalo-based Union.  After learning of the Eisenhardt project, he decided to donate a number of painting products and personally took two days off from his business to volunteer and brush and roll paint within the home.  

As a side note, Wlostowski told WNYLaborToday.com that while working on the project, there was talk on the site that the Eisenhardt Family had been nominated for ABC-TV's Extreme Home Makeover program, which eventually built a home for a chosen West Side family in Buffalo.  "I was told they were supposedly looking at them and that's why I got involved because it seems they were overlooked by Extreme Home Makeover," he said.  

Among those individual Union Members and Union Contractors who took part in the project were: Union Carpenters Chris Vestea, John Fratarcangelo, Al Robison and Donald Kremer; Union Electricians: Dennis Pollinger, Ramee Abdallah, Jim Dunphy, Dennis Reszka, Aaron Arnol, Dave Edwards, Dan Roberts, Tom Bensch, Mike Eustace, Todd Rosser, Bob Chilson, Roy Gritzke, John Sawicz, John Clunie, Ted Koeth, John Terpolilli, Aaron Coventry, Vince Lombardo, Howard Toy, Shawn Creighton, Kevin Phelan, Ed Wesolowski, Brian Duke, Garrett Punaro and Pete Winstel; and the following Union Contractors and Suppliers: Deltex Electric, Industrial Power & Lighting, Quermback Electric Frey Electric, Metro Electric, Shanor Electric, Graybar Electric, O'Connell Electric, Tunney Electric and Weydman Electric.

(Editor's Note: Anyone who would like to make a donation to the Eisenhardt Family Project can do so via mail to American Legion Post, 1460 Sunshine Fund, P.O. Box 274, Machias, New York.  The zip code is 14101.)