'Christmas Angel:' Beachwood Family Receives Gift Of New Roof

BEACHWOOD, NJ — For months, the Manning family has been dealing with a leaky roof. Every heavy rain, every storm, brought with it water dripping into the family's living room.

Patches had only done so much, and the family was faced with the need to replace it. But the price tag — about $4,000 — was a lot to absorb. Money was tight — Linda Manning had been treated for kidney cancer a year earlier, which prevented her from earning overtime pay that her family relies on.

That's when Mike Mullen and Premier Roofing stepped in. Two days before Christmas, Mullen knocked on the family's door with a gift: a new roof for their home.

"I’ve never asked for anything in my life," Manning said. "I must have cried for two straight hours after that gentleman left."

"Every year we reach out to someone around Christmas," said Mullen, whose company has been in business for 15 years in Toms River. Manning's husband, George, walked in looking for an estimate, and when Mullen and his crew looked at the roof, it was in bad shape.

"It was completely shot," Mullen said. "It couldn't be replaced." He also knew the family was in tough straits, and that's when he decided the Mannings were going to receive the help.

The work began on Wednesday, Linda Manning said.

The surprise help prompted her to post on Facebook about the gift, to make sure the community knew about the kindness that Mullen and Premier Roofing had done for her.

"Our modest home was full of love but we were unable to give the house itself the repairs it needed to stay strong," Manning wrote in a post on Facebook, thanking Premier Roofing for the help. "Premier Roofing restored my faith in humanity."

"We were really at wit's end," Manning said in a phone interview. The roof was in bad shape, but they were in a tough spot. Her bout with kidney cancer, which was discovered by by happenstance by her doctors a year earlier, had put a great deal of financial pressure on the family, which includes daughters Mia, 12, and Shealyn, 22.

The ranch house that not only provided a home for her husband and their daughters, also had housed Manning's oldest daughter, Shaunna, 32, and her two sons for two years, while Shaunna's home was being built by Habitat for Humanity. Manning's 86-year-old aunt also lived with them for a time.

Linda, a respiratory therapist, was limited to working three days a week following surgery to remove the cancer. "It's a very physical job," Linda said. A year later, she is mostly physically healed. "I still have to have labs done" to keep an eye out for any problems that might return.

Losing the overtime pay was difficult, but she said she still is blessed that the cancer was found when it was, Manning said.

"It was a Christmas miracle," she said. "Now we have this Christmas miracle."

The new roof removes worries about continuing damage to the living room ceiling, where some of worst leaking had happened. It also means they will be able to make other plans for work that needs to be done in the house, she said. There were projects they had considered and repairs that needed to be made, but they had put them off because with the roof still leaking, it didn't make sense to do them.

"Premier Roofing has given us many gifts through the thoughtful donation of our new roof. Your team has given us the gift security in caring for our family home, relieved financial pressure but even more so the gift of encouragement and hope in a difficult time," she wrote.

"We've done a few things" to help others, Mullen said, including the roof on the soup kitchen at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church.

Manning said she is determined to pay the kindness forward, and in sharing what Mullen has done for her family, others around her have been inspired.

"My brother just took $4,000 off someone else’s bill in California because of what was done for me," Manning said.

"I'm so grateful, so amazingly grateful," she said.

"Yes, there are Christmas angels," Manning wrote on Facebook. "A company this generous reminds us of how powerful of an impact businesses can have on our communities. In an age where trust is hard to find, Premier Roofing has proven to be kind-hearted individuals who do quality work and take pride in providing needed services while also giving back to their community."

"A home is a shelter from many kinds of storms," Manning wrote. "Thank you for helping our family be prepared for whatever storms come next. We will never forget your generosity, thoughtfulness and contribution to our family in a time when we really needed an angel."

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