The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

7 · Friday, November 27, 2009 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Walls of Hope to give struggling single mother well-deserved makeover By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF It is a Cinderella story. Naomi Borges is a good mom, caring daughter, hard worker and a strong person who is toiling amid the ashes of her life and coping, but just barely. She continues to struggle years after leaving an abusive relationship, copes with residual results in herself and her children and barely manages to make ends meet. But it doesn't matter, she and her children are safe. That is what does matter. On the weekend of Dec. 4-6, Borges and her teenaged children, daughter Becky and son Josh, will get a helping hand -- a hand up. They will spend the weekend at a local hotel. The girls will get a makeover, Josh will go to a Raptors game -- and when they get home they'll have a new kitchen and each have a new bedroom. Walls of Hope is moving in for the weekend while they're gone -- not to loaf around, but to roll up their sleeves and get to work. The results will be a surprise for the longtime Oakville family. The dozens of volunteers who will work hard that weekend and the many, many local business operators, who will get little, if any, advertising mileage out of their generosity, will return to their own homes and feel as on top of the world as the rags-to-riches feeling the Borges family is expected to have. "It takes a lot of hearts to change a family's life. Making a difference in another family's life just before the holidays... what a wonderful time to receive and also to give," said Oakville's Walls of Hope founder Sera Mansueto. On first glance, you may not spot the hardship at Naomi's neat, well-kept Oakville home -- or inside her person. On a harder second look, it becomes more visible -- the backyard pool that was rescued from the trash and patched, the basement kitchen she uses instead of the main floor one that doesn't function, the mortar she has placed on the front walk to make the home accessible for her ailing mother, who has numerous health issues including an inoperable brain tumour. Her teen children and mother have bedrooms upstairs. Naomi's is in the basement, NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER sparse with a dresser, whose drawers don't WORDS TO LIVE BY: A homemade plaque on a kitchen door demonstrates the strength that work, again rescued from junk day. has helped Naomi Borges cope through years of struggle and hardship. A poster on the wall in full view of the bed begins: "I am me..." and ends... "I am okay." Naomi works a lot and is barely scraping by. While the walls of her bedroom boast not much more than the poster, the living room walls sport school photos of her children. As one discovers the true state of affairs in the home and in the hearts of its family members, one does not feel aversion, but a deep respect for Naomi's strength of character, commitment to family and drive to succeed. Of course, it was tough to convince the proud and modest Naomi to accept some help, according to Mansueto. Naomi rarely complains and never asks for anything, said Mansueto. She took her life back one day in 1994 and has never looked back. She fled to a shelter for abused women with nothing but her kids. She does not look back. She and her children are safe and have a home. Protecting the health of residents is a top priority for Halton Region. See Walls page 9 www.halton.ca/h1n1experience H1N1 immunization clinics are now open to all residents over six months of age. www.halton.ca NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER WORKING ON NEW WALLS: Walls of Hope founder Sera Mansueto inside Naomi Borges' daughter's room, which will receive a makeover on the weekend of Dec. 4-6. 271109 1151 Bronte Road, Oakville, Ontario L6M 3L1