For family, a place to call home

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MIAMI HERALD WISH BOOK For family, a place to call home The family has been homeless for the past six months. On Saturday, they began moving into a new home. Posted on Sun, Jan. 06, 2008 Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email BY DAVID SMILEY dsmiley@... MARSHA HALPER / MIAMI HERALD STAFF talks Saturday with a Miami Herald reader who soon will buy bedroom furniture for 's sons. The family is receiving an outpouring of support from

Herald readers after being profiled in a Wish Book story. More Herald Wish Book coverage and his family no longer will have to spend freezing nights in a ripped tent and beat-up camper and pray for dry skies while eating dinner outside. The family that has lived out of C.B. Park

for the last 6 ½ months finally has a place to call home. ''It's been awesome,'' said Saturday afternoon while helping move his family's belongings into his new Hallandale Beach duplex. Last week, the county found the bright, two-bedroom, two-bath duplex with white walls and offered it to the family free of rent and utility bills for an undetermined amount of time. Just in time, too. Today was the deadline for the family to leave the park. ''The county will pay their expenses until they can get back on their feet again,'' said Steve Werthman, director of Broward's Homeless Initiative Partnership. In an empty living room, sons , 15, and Larry, 16, horsed around while a friend played 's new Gibson guitar, a Christmas present made possible by donations. Outside in a fenced-in back yard, talked to friend Pedro Abigantus, a former Miami Herald editor who bought the kids

beds. Donated bedroom furniture for , 60, and wife Margie, 54, is also on the way. ''This is the way it's supposed to be,'' said Abigantus, ``neighbors helping neighbors.'' Many have rushed to help since The Miami Herald first highlighted their problems last month in its Wish Book series. and his family have lived out of a camper and tent in C.B. Park since June, when they lost their West Park home. 's heart is failing, and his doctors tell him he is terminally ill and he needs a liver transplant. His wife has a bad back, hurt in a fall several years ago. His teenage boys, one with autism and the other with attention deficit hyperactive disorder, struggle to make it to school on time and cope with living in a park. has called the last six months ``hell.'' But the nightmare ended Saturday when the s moved into the Hallandale Beach duplex. ''People are still coming out of the woodwork to help,'' said. People have provided shots for the family dog, sent blankets and heaters during South Florida's recent cold snap, and even donated gift cards that allowed the family to have a merry Christmas. ''I'd say we had a pretty good Christmas,'' said.Joyce