How a N.S. carpenter learned to live life for others — and kept his neighbour from losing her home

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Update, Aug. 9, 2021: Construction took a little longer than expected, but Jane McClair is now starting to move into her new home. She told The Current that the house is "beautiful," and carpenter Kelly McCann talked about his hopes to help people with future projects. Listen to the update here. 

Original story below, published on Dec. 16, 2020

A Nova Scotia carpenter who has rallied volunteers to build his neighbour a new home — for free — says it taught him the importance of giving back to others.

"I started driving down my own little road here, Highway 329," Kelly McCann of Birchy Head, N.S., told The Current. "I would look to the left and look to the right and say, 'Whoa … look at that shack there.' And I know the person that lives in that shack.

"These things started to make me think, you got to quit just living for yourself every day of your life and be thinking about, 'How can I help someone else? People get lost in the cracks."

It all started in June when McCann was inspecting the deck at his neighbour Jane McClair's cottage, where she lives in Mill Cove, N.S., a small community southwest of Halifax. A few Christmases before, McClair had been putting up decorations when her leg went straight through a rotting board. McCann had come over to fix it.

But when he took a closer peek at the damage, he realized it wasn't just a few deck boards that were rotten. And by fall, he was building McClair a new house altogether.

"I looked at the corner of the house, and it was down about four inches," McCann said. "When I went and looked under there and Jane and I tore a few boards off, it was just like it was rotten underneath there, and the whole corner of the house was literally falling down."

McCann went inside to use the bathroom, where he discovered a chunk of wood propped up beside the toilet.

"I said, 'What's this piece of wood beside your toilet?'" said McCann. "She says, 'Oh, that holds my toilet up, because otherwise it tips over when I sit on it because the floor was rotten.'"

So McCann decided to bring in a few experts to see if the home could be salvaged.

These things started to make me think, you got to quit just living for yourself every day of your life and be thinking about, 'How can I help someone else?'- Kelly McCann, carpenter

"And it was just impossible," he said. "Then I said, 'You know what, let's stop doing these plans' — because we drew dozens and dozens of plans. 

"The most economical way to get Jane a new house was just to build her a new house."

Repairs, expenses added up

McClair works as a teacher's assistant, but it doesn't pay a lot, she told The Current. When her children eventually moved away from home, she said, the cost of living suddenly became "a lot."

Repairs she needed to make around the home seemed like simple fixes. But with money tight, she told herself she'd get to them later.

"And later never came," she said.

"It's rather embarrassing to kind of realize that, you know — that your house is kind of falling apart and you didn't even realize."

McCann's heart went out to McClair, who helps run the community's food bank.

She's used to caring for others, McCann said, but she didn't want anyone to have to take care of her, because she didn't want to be a burden.

"I thought, this is crazy," said the carpenter. "How can a person in Nova Scotia live in this province and people drive past every day and, you know, we just are in our own little worlds and don't even notice that other people are in terrible need?"

But with his busy work schedule running him into the ground, McCann wondered how he would ever find time to help McClair — or be able to afford it.

"When I first talked about this [project], I thought that I could not financially survive without getting some kind of remuneration," McCann said. "So my first plan was I will try to manage this project and see if I could take a little stipend for my services."

Volunteers, donations pour in

McCann and a few other people began putting together 20 brochures to hand out to friends, to see if anyone would be interested in helping build McClair a new home. 

Soon enough, the brochure made its way to Facebook, and "the windows of heaven opened," said McCann.

People making their way to Antigonish, N.S., heard about the project on the radio, and offered to donate an excavator. Meanwhile, people in B.C. who were friends of McClair's family offered to buy new appliances.

I can't believe how many people are giving day after day after day of their own personal lives to come and help out.- Kelly McCann, carpenter

"For a little tiny community that nobody even knows how to find, you know, it's gotten pretty big," McCann said of the project. 

"I can't believe how many people are giving day after day after day of their own personal lives to come and help out."

Joanne Eldershaw, a retired librarian assistant, is one of those people.

She volunteered because she wanted to help McClair be able to stay in her home. While the new house is being constructed, McClair is also staying with Eldershaw.

The 66-year-old has been crowned "the rebar queen" of the home reno project, for her rebar-bending and cutting skills.

"This piece, it takes muscle, you know," she said as she worked.

A dream coming true

A few months into the project, McClair's home is taking shape. There's a powder room, a dining room, and two windows overlooking the ocean. 

And she's looking forward to living in it.

"I can be warm, not having to worry about what's falling down or what's going to happen next, you know," she said.

McCann still isn't sure how he found the time to lead the build, but he's pretty happy with how things turned out. 

"So far I haven't taken any stipend, and I still somehow survive," he said. 

"My dream is that now she can be here and look out that beautiful window view of the ocean and be here for many years without worrying about anything falling apart."

Written by Kirsten Fenn. Produced by Mary-Catherine McIntosh.