Monday, June 7, 2010

Help Bring the Jensens Home!

First there was the long winter where the roads to Terril, Iowa were nearly impassable. Then there were the Spring rains that made it muddy. Our homeowner partner, Lisa is in Le Mars with her daughter. Le Mars is down the road 98.7 miles from Terril. That's where the Jensens have been living when there was no affordable temporary housing available here in the Lakes area. Alex spent eighth grade at a new school. Lisa changed her entire plan for schooling and work. Their dog passed away.

We had a board member with cancer. Another is about to become a father for the sixth time. Some have had to take additional jobs or jobs out of town to make ends meet in this economy. One of our leaders has been living with a sustained illness that has caused overarching fatigue and sapped all energy.

It's been a tough year.

Alex is going into high school in the fall. She's been so helpful, so patient, and she made the most of her year as a Le Mars Bulldog by earning the most reading points in her school, and has a giant trophy to prove it. She needs her own room in her own house to display that trophy. She needs to bring her academic and athletic abilities home to Terril-Graettinger High School and make the transition to freshman year with her friends.

Mary turned two and is identifying Tyrannosaurus dinosaurs in pictures and displays. She loves books and is running around like a whirling dervish. She needs the security of being in her own home in her own town as she grows.

Lisa is anxious to put her talent for nursing and heart for the elderly to work here at home, and many assisted living and other facilities are hiring, waiting for someone like her to monitor the medical conditions and brighten the days of our elders.

This family needs to come home. We made a huge amount of progress on the house -- a near total remodel. It just is not quite enough to bring Lisa and her daughters home.

We're committed once again to being at the site each Saturday this summer. Ed Peterson is also committed to being there other times if we have a weekday crew that wants to come out.

We're regrouping, recovering, but we must move forward. The Fuller Center for Housing makes homes decent and livable for homeowners in need. We give a hand up, not a hand-out.

We need volunteers. If you're in Okoboji on the weekends, please consider coming out for part of a Saturday to swing a hammer. Or you could bring us lunch to the site. Or you could write a check for materials and other needs.

If ever there was a family that needed to come home, it's this one.

Bring them home.