Fulton County Meets Fulton Street
by Alicia Buckenmeyer Buckeye Staff Writer

Six Archbold men were the miracle Minnie Hollingshed needed an hour away in Toledo. Living for seven years with a leaking roof, Hollingshed now has a dry home after the men donated time and used donated materials to repair it. Vinnie Miller, left, a Lugbill Supply Center employee, and Andrew Hurst, a contractor, layer plywood over Hollingshed's existing roof in mid-November.- photo courtesy Cecily Rohrs

The roof on the Fulton Street home has leaked for seven years. Yet a water-damaged home on Toledo's north side usually has little effect on Archbold.

But this time, it did.

Quite a big effect, in fact, since Archbold provided the solution after all other options failed.

But how did six Archbold men and donated supplies end up on Minnie Holligshed's roof in Toledo?

That's no story for a rainy day.

The Problem

"The roof was leaking," Minnie Holligshed said, describing the home she's owned for 15 years.

That's the nice way of putting it.

"It was in pretty bad shape," said Hollingshed's son, Tyrone Burks. "The shingles were falling off. There was holes in it."

Tyrone Burks, left, and his mother, Minnie Hollingshed, come from inner-city Toledo; Karlin Wyse is from Archbold. There's just no telling how or why people become connected. After Burks asked Wyse to borrow an extension ladder, Wyse and four other Archbold men spent over two days fixing Hollingshed's leaky roof. Hollingshed is ecstatic about both her warm, dry home and her new friendships. "I was rejoiced," she said.- photo by Alicia Buckenmeyer

It was bad news every time it rained.

Besides the buckets Hollingshed had to put out and empty during storms, water had bowed the kitchen counter and ruined ceiling tile and cabinets.

"The damage is tremendous," said Burks.

As Karlin Wyse, Archbold, who later helped fix the roof, said, "This wasn't a little drip coming in. This was water coming in."

Still, for Hollingshed, leaving the home was never an option. "I just feel like that was my home," she said. "And I want to have a home to be my own."

Hollingshed had tried many fixes, mostly quick ones. "We tried patching it, putting tar on it. All kinds of things," said Burks. "It never healed up. The wind would blow it off."

Repairmen, daunted by the home's 20-foot-high roof, quoted outrageous bills as high as $10,000.

Still, Hollingshed paid one contractor. "I gave them $1,100 and the guy left with it," she said.

Hollingshed thought she found the answer last April in Cecily Rohrs, Archbold, a friend who'd helped Burks relocate to Archbold the month before. When Rohrs saw Hollingshed's house, she explored grant options to fund a re-roofing project.

She succeeded, but it didn't work out. "They didn't have the money," Rohrs said.

The news was hard on his mother, Burks said. "We didn't know it was going to get done. She didn't know. She thought she was going through another winter with it like it was."

Through Rohrs, Burks was acquainted with Wyse, who works at Lugbill Supply Center, Archbold. Burks asked Wyse for a 30-foot extension ladder to facilitate the last option: attaching silo film over the hole in the roof.

Curious, Wyse asked the reason for the ladder when Burks returned it.

"We talked a little bit," said Wyse, "and I said, 'You know, Tyrone, that's going to last maybe a month. And it's going to be back to the same thing."

After a visit to Fulton Street, Wyse knew something had to be done. "It wasn't good," he said.

He made four phone calls and the next Monday, he, Burks, and four other area men were 20 feet in the air on a home in a questionable area of Toledo.

Burks, Wyse, and Lugbill employees Vinnie Miller and Dave Reinhart worked alongside Andrew Hurst, of Andrew Hurst Contracting, and his employees AJ Schroeder and Todd Fry to layer donated plywood and shingles over the remains of Hollingshed's existing roof.

"Everything just happened. We knew that God was telling us to do it, because it happened just like that," said Wyse, snapping his fingers. "It was done."

Donated materials and professional expertise combined for a successful project.

"Andrew's the contractor. He was the brains," said Wyse.

The workers also reinforced the attic rafters and changed out attic windows blown out by the wind.

The Fix

While the men were working on the roof, Hollingshed was rejoicing.

"Cecily called and told me they was going to fix it, and I was just praising God and thanking Him," Hollingshed said.

"My mother says she went up there after we was through and she just sat up there for about half hour just thinking about how great it was not to be raining inside," said Burks.

Hollingshed had every reason to rejoice. If the weathermen's forecasts had been correct, the project wouldn't have been possible.

"It was supposed to be 40 percent chance of rain," said Wyse. "But we really needed to get started that day to get done when we needed to get done.

"And the weathermen missed it."

The same miracle happened the next day and the next.

In fact, after hearing Wednesday's tentative forecast, the Archbold group almost decided to postpone its last half-day of work until Thursday.

Good thing they didn't.

"Thursday was terrible: cold, windy," said Wyse. "Friday was windy. I mean, we had three days to complete it and the weather just held up.

"It sprinkled just one or two times over the whole two-anda half days," said Burks.

With a fixed roof and dry home, Hollingshed can actually look forward to winter. "It's warm in the house now. It's not cold like it used to be," she said.

"It feels great. I was rejoiced."

And So Much More

"It's not too often that you see things happen like this on Fulton Street," said Burks. "Every time you read about something that happened on Fulton it's usually a crime, not something being redone.

"I just thank the people of Archbold. Just having enough love for us to help."

Burks compared Archbold with the ideal small-town setting of The Andy Griffith Show. "It's like being in Mayberry in 2000," he said. "It's not that bad at all. It's a nice community to be in."

Hollingshed and Wyse agree with Burks that the project meant more than just fixing a roof.

"They was doing it all in love," said Hollingshed, "because it was a lot of work."

Wyse added, "Tyrone and I knew each other before this. Now we're good friends."

"Yes, yes we are," said Burks.

"Minnie's a good friend of mine also," said Wyse. "It's caused a lot of good friendships."

Even more friendships started when Hollingshed attended a Wednesday night, Nov. 28, gathering celebrating the fixed roof at St. Martin's Lutheran, Archbold, where Burks and Rohrs attend church.

"We are coming together from Archbold to Fulton Street," said Hollingshed.

It's even more cause for rejoicing.