The North Miami home his parents built in 1957 is aging poorly. It needs a new roof

Kenneth Heller can tell you a story about nearly every house in his North Miami neighborhood. It’s not surprising considering that he’s lived there, on and off, for some 66 years.

“Every time I went away, like a homing beacon, there was always something bringing me back,” Heller, 78, said. “I think I’ve been here longer than just about anyone else now.”

But the home he’s lived in for most of his life — the home his parents built in 1957 and where Heller cared for his mother in the final years of her life — is showing its age. For several years now, the roof has been draped in frayed blue tarps. The ceiling is dotted with gaping holes.

The house has flooded before, Heller said, and keeping the water out is an ongoing battle. The last time the roof was replaced was 1984, according to Heller. And, of course, “things are a lot more expensive now than they used to be,” he said.

Fixing the problem isn’t cheap. Heller said that the lowest estimate he has gotten to repair the roof is around $60,000. He doesn’t have homeowner’s insurance. After all, he asks, “who can afford insurance these days?”

“To fix this with what I have — I wouldn’t be able to eat,” Heller said.

There are other challenges. Heller’s kitchen stove no longer works and has been replaced by a small hotplate. He’s currently borrowing a refrigerator from one of his neighbors; it wouldn’t fit through the kitchen door, so Heller keeps it in the living room.

“Illusions of grandeur”

Heller prefers to talk about better days, like learning to water ski in Biscayne Bay after he first moved to Florida or taking Spanish classes in Mexico as a teenager. He graduated from the University of Florida and went on to law school at Samford University in Alabama.

By his own admission, Heller wasn’t the most dedicated law student. Instead, he spent his time “fooling around” and “living the high life.” He eventually dropped out and joined the Marine Corps in 1968 — at the height of the Vietnam War — in hopes of seeing the world.

“You’ve got to understand, I had illusions of grandeur,” Heller said. “Besides, it was either join up or get drafted.”

Heller never did go to Vietnam. He said he broke his elbow and a knee during training and was eventually discharged. He returned to Florida and went to work at a Zayre department store in Miami before eventually going back to law school in Alabama and graduating in 1975.

Heller moved around over the ensuing decade. He got married, had two children and got divorced. He moved back to his North Miami home in 1987 to take care of his mother. A year later, in 1988, the law firm that he worked at was sold off, and he soon became his mother’s full-time caregiver. She passed away in 1999.

Holding onto the family home

It’s been nearly 25 years since his mother passed away, and Heller is hoping to fix up his family home while dealing with a long list of health challenges. He struggles with hearing and vision deficits, as well as congestive heart failure. Getting around can also be difficult; Heller wears braces on both of his legs and uses a walker.

He has help from his friend Victoria Sanchez who stays with him at times. Sandi Dioli Kumm, who works for the North Miami Foundation for Senior Citizens’ Services, stops by often. She said that Heller needs help paying to repair his roof and purchasing some small appliances, like a toaster oven.

“It’s the family home. Everybody else has gone through two and three ownerships, but he’s held onto it,” said Kumm, who nominated Heller for Wish Book, a Miami Herald/elNuevo Herald program that raises money from the community to help needy people identified by nonprofit agencies. “We’re trying to work to rectify some of these issues that are just overwhelming for a man in his late 70s.”

“He wants to stay in his home and we want to make sure he can do so safely,” she said.

Heller said that he’s been encouraged by some friends to sell the home, but insisted that he wants to stay put.

“I’m trying to hold onto this house,” he said. “It’s where I belong.”

How to help

To help this Wish Book nominee and the more than 100 other nominees who are in need this year:

▪ To donate, use the coupon found in the newspaper or pay securely online through www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook

▪ For more information, call 305-376-2906 or email Wishbook@MiamiHerald.com

▪ The most requested items are often laptops and tablets for school, furniture, and accessible vans

▪ Read all Wish Book stories on www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook

She lost her husband to cancer. Her wish for their kids is happiness — and a computer

She was a toddler when she survived the Haiti earthquake. Now she needs a laptop for school

They wanted a better life for their kids in the US. They weren’t ready for the US economy