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Article published August 11, 2010
2009 recipients count blessings
CRANBERRY TWP — A year after moving into a house built with the help of dozens of volunteers, Jimmy and Edie Barbarino count their blessings every day. The Barbarinos moved into their new three-bedroom house off Holiday Drive last September, a house partially built with funds from the Cranberry CUP. The Barbarinos were the Inspirational Family at last year's event, which raises funds through a softball tournament and other assorted activities. The family received more than $35,000 from the Cranberry CUP. This year's tournament took place this past weekend at several parks across the township. The family counts their blessings every day for the house but also because Jimmy, the patriarch of the family, is still with them. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor several years ago and doctors gave him four to six years to live. The house built with the love and compassion from countless volunteers is now the Barbarino's home, and Jimmy, who undergoes an MRI every two months, is with them to enjoy the new dwelling. "Let's just say not a day goes by that we don't say thank you," Edie Barbarino, Jimmy's wife, said. "We're grateful for what we have and for every day. I don't know how to thank everyone for what they've done." While the Cranberry CUP helped the Barbarinos, the family received an outpouring of support from dozens of people across the community.The project started when Caitlyn Elser, then a senior at Seneca Valley High School, in the fall of 2006 chose to build the home as her senior project. Edie Barbarino worked for a dentist in Zelienople where the Elsers were patients. Once she left her job to care for her recently diagnosed husband, the family noticed Barbarino's departure. Caitlyn's parents, Jeff and Diane Elser, spearheaded the project after their daughter went away to college. It wasn't long before donations began pouring in from church members, friends and businesses in the community. She solicited help from Habitat for Humanity, which purchased the land and assisted in fundraising and building the house, and received donated supplies and time from local companies like Lowe's, which donated $35,000 and about a dozen volunteers to help with the project. Edie Barbarino said the efforts of everyone who helped haven't been forgotten. It's just the opposite, she said. She her daughters, Isabella, 8, and Gianna, 5, pray every night and thank the Elsers and everyone else involved with the project. It's that kind of gratitude that Edie hopes to instill in her children, that one deed can go a long way to changing the lives of friends or strangers. "I think they see how little things can touch others, can touch anyone," she said. "I hope to give that to them and I hope they carry that with them."
