Born to do tiles
Ryan Murray | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 2 months AGO
<p>"All I can say is thank you to all the people that helped put a roof over my head. Social Security does not go that far," Alfreda Piland said in her mobile home in Columbia Falls on Wednesday as workers from the Dysfunctional Cowboys motorcycle club put metal sheeting on her roof. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Joe Leone, Alfreda Pilond's son-in-law, drills a metal sheet onto her roof as Mike West holds it in place on Wednesday. Leone and other members of the Dysfunctional Cowboys motorcycle club have been working on putting a new roof on the mobile home for nearly three weeks.</p>
<p>Mike West puts a metal sheet in place for Alfreda Pilond's mobile home roof in Columbia Falls on Wednesday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Things moved slowly for Alfreda Piland after her roof began leaking last year.
The roof of her mobile home was so inundated with water, several rooms were almost completely ruined from the dripping.
Everywhere she turned, she couldn’t get the help she needed. Consigned to a wheelchair with multiple sclerosis, Piland, 65, thought she might have to move.
“I kept telling people this is a river, not a tiny drip, drip, drip,” she said. “I called umpteen dozen people and everyone turned me down.”
Then the Columbia Falls resident called the Flathead County Agency on Aging.
The agency’s Senior Mobile Home Repair Program helps seniors with repairs to their trailers all over the valley. That could mean repairing a sink or building a wheelchair ramp — but replacing an entire roof was a little more challenging.
Jim Atkinson, former director of the Agency on Aging and now the coordinator for the mobile home program, said it took a while to approve the funds for Piland. He contacted Western Building Center and Plum Creek, who were willing to donate supplies.
The mobile home program has provided money, time and manpower — all donated from companies and the community — to 210 individuals since its inception in 2005.
With lumber and other supplies lined up, the only thing missing was the manpower to work on Piland’s home on North Hilltop Road.
Luckily for Piland, her son-in-law Joe Leone had a few friends willing to help: his biker club, the Dysfunctional Cowboys.
“I kept trying to get everybody else to do it and ultimately Joe volunteered his time,” Piland said. “Now every night, after they get off work, two or three come out here to work on the roof.”
She said her Social Security checks barely get her to the next month, so she can’t afford to pay the bikers, but they continue to work.
“Their motto is family, loyalty, respect,” Piland said. “These guys are wonderful, beautiful people. Not all biker clubs are mean and nasty. I’m elated and so grateful and so thankful.”
She said her roof should be finished by the end of September, ideally before the heaviest rains come through. Other work, including replacing drywall and flooring, will continue.
Piland’s double-wide mobile home had several rooms inundated, but she said nothing sentimental was lost.
“Praise the Lord, we got all that out of there,” she said. “I’ve already had to replace some stuff and I’m not sure how I could have replaced much else.”
To find out more about the mobile-home repair program, call the Agency on Aging at 758-5370.
Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.