Restoration program helps Grand Island woman build a new life

Marge Beran has spent much of her life helping others. Now some of that help has been returned.

The nurse of 34 years, 10 years spent working at the Cancer Treatment Center at St. Francis Medical Center, received what she said was a gift no different than winning the lottery.

Beran, who lives at 3106 W. 13th St. in Grand Island, had her house renovated free of charge this week as part of the Paul Davis Restoring America program.

She had spent the last year in and out of the hospital -- as a patient this time -- recovering from a laundry list of maladies that made it difficult to move throughout her house.

"I'd go downstairs to do laundry, and I would get chest pains," the 54-year-old said. "And then I just wouldn't go to the basement, because I didn't want to feel that way anymore."

In conjunction with Paul Davis Restoration of Central Nebraska, many local contractors worked this week to move Beran's washer and dryer to the main floor, reworking the house's plumbing and electrical systems along the way.

Carpet was replaced with linoleum so Beran, who is now on an oxygen machine, could more easily move. Ducts were cleaned, a ceiling light was fixed, and a shower head was replaced, Beran said.

The time, materials and labor for the projects are all donated, said Kristen Martin, Paul Davis Restoration of Central Nebraska marketing director. As part of its parent company, Paul Davis Restoration created this annual program to provide repairs for those unable to do the work themselves because of physical or financial reasons, Martin said.

"The goal is to make everyday life better, the life we take for granted," she said. "We want to make the quality of life better for someone who has improved so many others' quality of life."

In February, Paul Davis began asking Central Nebraska insurance agencies for recipient nominations. When Martin walked into the office of American Family Insurance Agent Kristy Cavanaugh, 2925 W. Stolley Park Road, to explain the project, Crystal Wall said Beran came to mind immediately.

"She is such a wonderful lady," said Wall, who has been Beran's insurance agent for nearly six years. "I knew she could use some help, and I knew she was someone who would be very grateful."

When her sister died six years ago, Beran took full responsibility of raising her sister's two sons, then ages 13 and 19. In the past year, she has broken ribs, torn a rotator cuff, had a heart attack and had pneumonia twice.

"It was just one fiasco after another," Beran said. "But the people working in my house this week have been angels."

She said a number of family members offered to let her stay with them for the construction's duration, but she turned them down. She also canceled her rehabilitation classes until next week.

"I want to stay here to meet and talk with all of the people coming to fix up my house," she said. "And after they leave, I take pictures of all the work they did that day.”