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Spirit of Life Bella Tucker was eight years old when she caught a rare and life threatening infection. She was diagnosed with streptococcus pneumonia sepsis with DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation). The infection caused clotting of her extremities and the only way to save her young life was to perform a quadruple amputation.
A&M first became aware of Bella’s situation when a former employee contacted us after reading Bella’s story in the local newspaper. Her home in Londonderry was not set up to accommodate her new challenges as well as the rest of her large family. So a group of very well meaning local residents and businesses including A&M started down the path to install a wheelchair ramp and renovate her bathroom……but it became apparent along the way that this would not be quite enough, so A&M contacted Cube 3 Studios, an architectural firm, for assistance with an elevator. Nik Middleton, Brian O’Connor and Keith Boyle of Cube 3 eagerly jumped on board and brought along Tony Nigro of Suffolk Construction and Felix and Amee McNamara of Black Dog Builders to assist. The end result was a 2,500 square foot addition and a complete renovation to the existing home that included a new bedroom and physical therapy room for Bella, an elevator, a wheelchair accessible kitchen and updates to every room in the house. A&M was happy to donate all land survey, site layout, grading, septic system design, landscape design, structural engineering and construction administration services for this very important project. The family was relocated to a hotel for over a month during the renovation while Bella had the opportunity to keep track of all that was happening at the house from her hospital and rehabilitation center and referred to it excitedly as “her mansion”.
Representing A&M at the homecoming were Mike Guilmet, Bob Clarke, and Maurene Pepin. In a thank you to the A&M staff that volunteered their personal time and effort, Mike Guilmet relayed the family’s gratitude for the generosity and kindness shown to them. Mike also shared his personal observation of a job well done. “After the celebration was over and the crowds started to leave I watched Bella, she was in the house, in her room, upstairs, in the front yard visiting her friends, there wasn’t anywhere that Bella couldn’t go”, acknowledging that the main goal of the project was to give Bella freedom to move about in her home. Mike also expressed how proud it made him that the people within the company pulled together to help out with this important project. “I know that those of you that were asked to help out did so without reservation and carried out much of the work on your own time (often a tremendous amount of work). This project made me feel great in helping this family and this little girl, but also made me realize the quality people that I am fortunate to work with every day. This was a project that I will always remember as one of the greatest in my career to be a part of.” The list of extraordinary people who donated their time, energy, talents and services to this project are too many to list here but special recognition needs to go to the following people:
To learn more about how you can help Bella or to see a complete list of vendors and volunteers please go to the website www.bellatucker.org.
Allen & Major Named One of the Best by Banker & Tradesman The readers of Banker and Tradesman have named Allen & Major Associates, Inc (A&M) as one of the best Design Construction Site Survey Firms in Massachusetts in their Best of 2010 Reader’s Poll. We would like to thank the readers of Banker and Tradesman for their vote of confidence as well as our Clients both past and present for our continued success. A&M’s Land Survey division is under the supervision of Principal Kevin Kiernan, PLS, a partner and twenty three year veteran of A&M.
Allen & Major Welcomes Back One of Our Own Allen & Major Associates, Inc. is pleased to welcome home Albert Kopek, P.E. Sgt. Kopek served a 12 month tour of duty in Iraq with the 1479th Civil Affairs Company, an Army Reserve organization out of Fort Tilden, NY. This was his second tour of duty in Iraq. Just prior to his deployment in May of 2009, Al received his LEED AP accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council. He has resumed his position here at A&M as a Senior Project Engineer.
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In order to accommodate Bella’s new lifestyle, a large group of big hearted companies large and small came together to renovate and expand her family’s home in Londonderry, NH. Allen & Major was fortunate to have been a part of this team effort. A&M is extremely proud of the design build community and especially the staff who pulled together to help out with this important project. 
On Sunday November 7, 2010, Bella got to see her new home for the first time. Bella and her family were welcomed home with cheers from a vast crowd that came together to help welcome the family home, including so many of the people who had volunteered their time and resources on this project. An emotional Bella waved to the crowd before greeting Tony Nigro who gave Bella and her entire family their first tour of the house. Tony dedicated his whole heart and soul into this project and was the de facto father to the entire design build family.
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