Inspiring Hope - A Volunteer Dorm

 Inspiring Hope - Join me as I feature incredible people who are making a difference for families affected by the wildfires in Lake County, California.  I have the privilege of meeting homeowners, volunteers and business people who are making Lake County a better place.  Today we feature something a little different, a building designed to make a difference.  Visit our previous post through this link http://cityofhopeforkids.blogspot.com/2016/09/inspiring-hope-building-back-what-fire.html and meet a couple building back what the fire destroyed.

Volunteers are the stars that make our motto come to life:  Rebuildng Homes, Restoring Lives.  We love to host teams of volunteers.  They come and work for a week, building homes, connecting to homeowners, sharing their faith and changing a community.

Volunteers from First United Methodist Church of Santa Rosa working at Hope City.

   Our staff always puts three things in place to make the work week a success:  Good work, good food and good sleep.

So why would I focus on the volunteer dorm, when we have been focusing on Inspiring Hope.

Because having a home, gives us a place to consistently house volunteers, host work teams and most importantly build homes.  Like many in Lake County, we have moved from spot to spot, our hosts have been gracious and kind, but to really make progress and see the results we need our own home.  

We have a plan for a beautiful building that will provide the housing for our hard-working volunteers.   The dorm includes men’s and women’s dorms, shower facilities, a kitchen for meals for our teams and tool sheds for our equipment.

The demolition of the former building on the property is underway and we look forward to the new facility.

HCRN CEO Kevin Cox recorded an update on site.

Kevin Cox update September 22, 2016

A major project like this does not come together without a great deal of support and we have been blessed with great partners.  Thank you to the Middletown Central Park Association for providing the property.  

Kevin Smith Construction has provided the demolition of the former building.

And a big thank you to the Lake County Rising for their financial support of this project.  They have caught the vision and partnered with us to provide all of the building materials for this beautiful dorm.

We are excited to see this project move forward!!

 

Framing up a home

Two houses and two foundations started the week.  But a hard-working volunteer crew from Petaluma Valley Baptist Church installed floor joists and sub-floors on both homes during the week of September 12-16.  This update from HCRN CEO Kevin Cox shows the progress on the build sites and highlights the start of framing.

https://www.facebook.com/kevin.cox.1800/videos/10210305763422171/

Thanks for keeping up to date with our rebuilding project here in Lake County, California.

Hope Crisis Response Network
Rebuilding homes, Restoring lives

Walk through our latest build site

Our weekly video update includes HCRN CEO Kevin Cox showing the interior work on a two bedroom home currently underway for one of our clients.  Join him for a look around.

https://www.facebook.com/kevin.cox.1800/videos/10210237371712421/

Hope City:  Rebuilding Homes, Restoring Lives

Inspiring Hope - Building back what the fire destroyed

 

Inspiring Hope - Join me as I feature incredible people who are making a difference for families affected by the wildfires in Lake County, California.  I have the privilege of meeting homeowners, volunteers and business people who are making Lake County a better place.  Today we meet a couple who lost everything in the devastating wildfire.

Pam and Stephan Wasik had a cozy home off a winding mountain road.  The thick tree cover gave them a mild, comfortable temperatures even in the summer sun.  They had lived in Cobb for several years in September 2015.  They were avid gardeners, with terraced plots on their sloping lot and a wide variety of fruit trees.  On September 12, Stephan had spent the afternoon sanding their back deck.  It was one of the final big projects on their renovation list.  When he turned off the sander, he heard something and turned to look up the mountain.  He could see a giant plume of smoke and realized he was hearing the tinder dry woods burning on their mountain.  Still in his dust-covered clothing, he yelled for Pam and then headed down their one lane street.  He woke up the first neighbor who had been working overnights.  He pounded on the door of the next house and told them to go or they would never leave the mountain alive.  He raced back to their home, they grabbed a few things and pulled down the mountain.  They could see the flames cresting the top of the mountain and knew there was nothing to stop the monster fire from destroying their home.

Pam and Stephan Wasik at their vegetable gardens on their property in Cobb.

Pam and Stephan are like many of the Valley Fire survivors, they evacuated quickly, escaping with little more than the clothes on their backs, dirty work clothes in Stephan's case.  It would be weeks before they were allowed to return to their property to see in person the destruction of the wildfire.  They would sift through ashes looking for small signs or mementos of their life.

Their property lay in ashes following the fire.

Recently, as I talked with Pam and Stephan and they reflected on their last year, the wildfire would not be the only loss they would face.  Someone stole the sifted scraps of their lives from their property.  They would be treated with contempt because they were fire survivors and had lost everything. 

But they are survivors.  "We are remaining strong despite the circumstances.  We believe we can rebuild and recreate from the ashes," said Stephan.  "We will see beauty instead of ashes, joy instead of mourning and gladness instead of despair; some people have lost that belief," said Pam.

Stephan continued, "On Cobb, we have to resilient.  You have to use your vision to figure out the next step." 

They both expressed their appreciation for the volunteers that have worked on their property.  "We could not have reached this point without the help of the volunteers.  Our backs and our feet could not have done this alone." 

Volunteers from Redding, California working at the Wasik property.

They are also very thankful for Hope City and look forward to their home being rebuilt on their property.  "We are thankful to be living here in our camper, with our gardens producing vegetables this summer and our new fruit trees taking root," said Pam.  Stephan added, "We've found we have to keep active everyday.  Gardening was part of our property before the fire and now it gives us purpose and shows the resilience of nature. "

Pam and Stephan with Hope City staff.

From Left:  Kevin Moss, Construction manager, Stephan, Jordan Cox, Jordain Widmeyer, Kevin Cox, CEO Hope City,and  Pam

Hope City is thankful for Pam and Stephan and their generous hearts.  Their property has been excavated and we'll be able to install the foundation later this fall. 

We look forward to the day when their home is rebuilt and their gardens are flourishing!

Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.  Jeremiah 29:5

A bud on one of their trees, before the fire.  Looking forward to new fruit growing on their property.

  

Putting a lid on it - Video update

Volunteers tackled a roofing project on Saturday during their work with Hope Crisis Response Network.  The team hit the roof in Middletown while other volunteers installed Tyvek on the house along with the new windows.

HCRN CEO and Founder Kevin Cox marked the day with a video update.

Check it out here:  https://www.facebook.com/kevin.cox.1800/videos/10210168798878143/

Rebuilding homes, restoring lives
Hope Crisis Response Network

Volunteer finds fire recovery work fulfilling

Inspiring Hope - Join me as I feature incredible people who are making a difference for families affected by the wildfires in Lake County, California.  I have the privilege of meeting homeowners, volunteers and local business leaders who are making Lake County a better place.  Today we meet a volunteer who's given more than 100 volunteer hours this year and brought along other volunteers to multiply the effect.
 
Ron Priest runs a busy construction crew all week long and then on the weekend, he spends more time working.  But his weekend work focuses on rebuilding homes in Middletown, California for families who lost their homes to the Valley Fire in September 2015.

Ron recruited volunteers and brought in a team nearly every Saturday this summer, driving in from his home in Angwin about 30 miles away from Middletown.  He recruits from his church, from his friends and even has employees who volunteer with him.  Hope Crisis Response Network currently has four homes under construction in Middletown.  Ron and his crews have worked on all four.  They have dug footers, poured foundations, laid floor joists, and framed.

"Serving on the weekends, inspires me and gives me strength for the week," said Ron.  "I started volunteering more than 15 years ago and traveled across the United States and internationally, but now God has given me a place to serve in my own backyard.  I'm so blessed to be able to help these homeowners.  I just think the world of them."

Ron says recruiting new people to volunteer is important.  Ron explains, "You get a taste for serving, you have that experience and you get hooked.  It's a privilege to serve.  You get closer to God."

Ron's teams have worked through 100 degree afternoons, created special friendships with homeowners and spread hope through the community.  But Ron said the greatest moment of volunteering with Hope City, came just two weeks ago when his 9 year old son, Joel, joined them on the work site.  Ron said, "Seeing my son step up, take the initiative and work as one of the guys on the build site; that was a special moment.  Once you volunteer and give, it gets in your heart and you'll need to continue to do it.  Even kids can learn how important that is."  Joel may not always be on the build site though, he'd like to help in other ways too.  He's planning to be a firefighter when he grows up!

     Ron said, "It's a privilege to serve.  Kevin Cox and Kevin Moss have a gift and talent for this work and they are extraordinary!" 

Thank you Ron!  

You can join a volunteer team by visiting our website for more information www.hcrn.info or email valerie@hcrn.info.