WHOEVER said good deeds are a thing of the past never met Steve Swaby.

Touched by the plight of a family living in a cottage at the abandoned Mahoe Hill All-Age School in Broadgate, St Mary, Swaby – a Jamaican living in Tampa, Florida – decided that whatever it took, the family would have a home of their own in time for Christmas.

The conditions under which Icilda Notice and her six children lived were deplorable. The sparsely furnished cottage had no running water or electricity, and worse, when the Wag Water River was in spate they were trapped inside the cottage for days, sometimes without food.

The family’s story, published in the Observer last month, was even more touching for the fact that Notice’s eldest child, Damian Taylor, lamented that he was unable to attend school, simply because his mom could not afford to send him, as well as that a swing bridge – the only access to that community – had collapsed, forcing the family to cross the river to interact with other members of their community.

On Monday night, Swaby proudly handed over to the family, the key to a new house built on a plot of leased land in Unity, St Andrew.

The effort cost Swaby and a number of other volunteers just over $400,000 and a lot of sweat.

“I am very happy,” said Damian with a big smile. “The house is very big and pretty. I am feeling good that I no longer have to walk through the river.”

Notice was equally elated, as it was only on Sunday night as they moved their few items of furniture out of the cottage, that some items were washed away by the river.

“All of us very glad and I like everything about the house,” she said.

Swaby used the opportunity to encourage Damian to do well in school, now that he has a comfortable home environment.

“You can make me very proud by doing good in school so that you can help your parents,” he told Damian as the little boy thanked him.

Following the initial Observer article, readers donated money, clothing and school supplies for all the children.

However, although the donations allowed Damian to enrol in school, the family had an even bigger problem as they were forced to leave the cottage after Damian was almost washed downstream on his way to school.

In addition, they came under pressure to vacate the school premises from some residents of the community who accused them of telling their story to the Observer to embarrass the sitting member of Parliament, Tarn Peralto.

The family eventually crammed into one room with relatives.

But when their difficulty was again highlighted by the Observer, Swaby, who had journeyed to Jamaica earlier with items for Damian, promised the family would have a home.

He appealed to Food for the Poor for building materials, but got no response. So Swaby single-handedly planned and designed the cosy dwelling. Because it was being built on leased land, only a board structure could be set up, but he wanted to ensure it was well done.

Additional help came from the staff at the finance department at Scotiabank Centre, which contributed $52,000 to the project; The Care-a-Bit Committee – the staff outreach arm of RBTT Bank Jamaica Limited – which donated $30,000; and entertainer Freddie McGregor, who contributed $10,000.

McGregor, who said he was touched by the family’s plight, also visited the work site along with a team from his Big Ship family.

Swaby, however, used thousands of dollars of his own money as well as donations solicited from friends, family members in the United States, and his co-workers at the company Yara North America.

“I took the Obama approach,” he joked. “I say give what you have, US$5 or US$10, any amount.”

He said that his cousin, Derrick Dawes and wife Maureen from London contributed £100 since they were unable to volunteer their time.

He also solicited assistance from his hometown of Russells, St Elizabeth, getting four of his brothers, his niece and her church members from Portmore, as well as several other volunteers who piled into a chartered bus and journeyed from that parish to St Andrew on Sunday to build the house.

The pounding of hammer against nail rang out as the men worked throughout the day, while others heaved huge ply-boards, bags of cement, and other building supplies unto their heads and transported them over the hilly terrain to the site.

Although they had no electricity, they worked late into the night for two days using the dim light from their cellphones.

Volunteers Hugh Dixon and Basil Swaby of the Russells Citizens’ Association said they are no strangers to voluntary work, since their association helps a lot of the needy persons in that community. Their last project was to build a house for a mentally ill woman who was repeatedly raped while living on the street.

Other volunteers were Osbourne ‘Sam’ Campbell and Lennis Trowers from Mandeville, Sevvie Clarke, Arden Swaby, Brandon Russell Jnr, Carol Swaby, Linden Swaby, Steve Allen, Delroy Robinson, Richard Clacken, Roy Clacken, Barrington Levy, Howard Gayle and Rohan Blake all from St Elizabeth.

Volunteers from the Gregory Park Seventh-day Adventist Church in St Catherine were Fiona Dyer Wilson, Damian Wilson, Lalford Treasure, Noel Treasure, Royston McLaughlin, Eileen Roper, Rayon Davis, Sabrina Roper and Shanice Durrant.

In addition, an education fund of $50,000 was established for Damian by the Jamaica Ex-Police Association of Connecticut Inc in partnership with the Police Credit Union. Jamaica Beverages Limited donated a variety of school supplies for all the children, while the Kiwanis movement through the Kiwanis clubs of Stony Hill, Lauderdale Lakes (Florida) and Kendal/South Dade (Florida) also contributed a wide array of school supplies.