Fund-raising at fair makes house-raising for Kaluza come early

By Elise Franco

The former KFC manager could be in his new home as early as December.

YOUNGSTOWN — Joe Kaluza will be getting his new home much sooner than he anticipated.

Thanks to donations of more than $38,000 during the Canfield Fair and pledges of service from contractors all over the Mahoning Valley, workers will break ground on Kaluza’s home by Oct. 1, said Sam Pitzulo, who will be the general contractor.

Pitzulo, of Canfield, said he walked by The Kaluza Project booth during last week’s fair and dropped all the money in his pocket into the bin.

“I got about 50 feet away and thought, ‘I can do better than that.’ I told Anna [Fitzgerald, Kaluza’s sister] I would trim the house out,” he said. “I kind of walked away again, and thought that I could still do better: I offered to be the general contractor.

“I just don’t think anybody in their right mind can say no to helping.”

Kaluza is the former manager of a KFC restaurant on South Avenue in Youngstown.

He was shot while taking a deposit to the bank in March 2008, and is confined to a wheelchair as a result. The Kaluza Project is an effort by his family and friends to fund the construction of a new house with the necessary accommodations for him.

Jim Phillips, who helped Fitzgerald organize The Kaluza Project, said they had about $125,000 of the needed $250,000 in money and contractors’ pledges before Pitzulo stepped in to help.

“[Sam] called me late Thursday afternoon and said everyone is on board to start Oct. 1, so it’s a little scary,” he said.

Phillips said he can’t believe the home they planned to break ground on next spring could very well be completed before the new year.

“I feel very blessed. After what happened to Joe, you think what is this world coming to?” he said. “But then you sit at the fair for six days and watch the outpouring of compassion and financial support and now all this.”

Phillips said they will still need between $50,000 and $75,000 to cover expenses such as lumber, which he estimates will cost about $20,000.

Pitzulo said by the first day of construction they should have all the monetary expenses covered.

“We’ll still need individual volunteers, painters, carpenters, people to cook and bring food by at lunch time,” he said. “In the next three weeks we’ll have all of that put together.”

Pitzulo said the construction should take about 75 days, and the weather will be no deterrent.

“It’ll happen. We want to get him in for the holidays,” he said. “I’m a home builder; we work with weather all the time.”

Pitzulo, who owns Sam Pitzulo Homes in Canfield, is no stranger to donating his time, money and labor.

He was the general contractor on a home project in 2007 when volunteers from throughout the Mahoning Valley came together to build a new home on Shields Road in Canfield for Rebecca Bailing and her three children.

Pitzulo said about 400 people volunteered in the Shields Road home, and he hopes as many or more will help with Kaluza’s new home.

“That’s what this is all about. No one is getting paid, everyone is a volunteer,” he said. “It’s all about giving back and getting people to help other people.”

Anyone who would like to donate can mail checks to The Kaluza Project, P.O. Box 8; North Lima, Ohio 44452, or contact Jim Phillips at (330) 716-0236 or Anna Fitzgerald at (330) 233-0410 for information about how to volunteer.

efranco@vindy.com