Paul Moskowitz, left, Frank Ench, center, and Hank Winters, work...

Paul Moskowitz, left, Frank Ench, center, and Hank Winters, work on rebuilding the Fosters' floor. (April 21, 2011) Credit: STEVE PFOST

One year ago, Carlington Foster left his longtime Great Neck home after health problems forced him into a hospital and then a nursing home.

But Thursday a group of volunteers busily worked around his four-bedroom cape -- laying floor, painting and readying the bathroom for renovation -- to enable Foster, 84, to come home again as part of a nonprofit effort to help veterans.

"God sent us all these wonderful people," said his wife, Audrey Foster, 81, of the volunteers from ReBuilding Together Long Island who started work on the four-bedroom cape in the morning.

With a $17,500 grant from the Sears Heroes at Home program, which provides support to military service members, veterans and their families, the group from ReBuilding Together plans to make the home more accessible for Foster, who uses a wheelchair after suffering a stroke.

The group, consisting mostly of retirees, does much of the handiwork themselves, but will hire contractors for bigger jobs such as removing the tub and making the bathroom more accessible. They already had an electric lift installed so Foster can reach the second floor and are planning a wheelchair ramp for the front.

Foster is a Navy veteran who served in World War II.

"He is a disabled veteran and the grant that we received from Sears, the money has to be spent on a disabled veteran's house. . . . He will be able to get around the house," said Sol Goldstein, of Massapequa, who is president of ReBuilding Together Long Island, which has 289 members. "The mission is to keep the elderly disabled homeowner living in their own home under warm, safe and comfortable conditions."

Foster and his wife have been married for more than 60 years and the home on Allen Drive was their first house. It's where they raised two children, Stephen Foster, a Vietnam veteran who lives with them, and Sheila Foster who now lives in Smithtown. She had been seeking help for her parents, to keep them in their home and connected with ReBuilding Together.

Carlington Foster was a master carpenter, his son said, and he worked as a supervisor in public works at the Merchant Marine Academy. He did most of the work around the home himself, until his recent health problems.

"He really wants to be home and we really want him home," his son said.

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