Part of the vision of RCM, RCCHC, and RCRC has been to rehabilitate boarded-up houses, work alongside of families who are interested in home ownership, and partner with supporting churches to make repairs and help increase the value of the house. The outcome, a family with a place to call home and the support of a diverse partnering community, is a snapshot of God’s Kingdom on earth ~ a tangible sign of God’s reclamation project over despair, defeat, and sin. Being a small part of that process is honoring and rewarding work.
For the last seven years, while focus has wavered and we have had our highs and lows, one constant vision has been to reclaim and rename the 102nd Place block (the block that RCRC is located on). Folks in the neighborhood call it “Skid Row,” we dreamed of calling it Reformation Road. No one ever settled on a name. I lived on Skid Reformation Road for 2 years and still try to stop by every week to say “hi” to old friends. In the summer 15-25 children ride bikes, jump rope, and run up and down the street. Long time neighborhood resident, Sam Brown waters his grass or shovels his driveway and greets anyone walking the street. All day and night, young men hang out in hooded sweatshirts selling drugs (it is the main crack/marijuana distribution point within a five-seven block radius). Gun shots pop several times a week. Skid Reformation Road is an odd paradox, full of life and hope with death and defeat still lingering.
In those seven years we have rehabilitated three boarded-up houses, purchased a vacant lot adjacent to RCRC, and partnered with Calvin CRC of Oak Lawn to rehab a house that was badly damaged in a fire, all of those on Skid Reformation Road. The result of this vision, faithfulness, and labor is impressive: a home for a single father and his three kids (Roderick Jones), a home for our volunteer coordinator (Steve Turner), a home for our current seminary intern (Dave Ten Clay; his fiancée, Laura, will move in with him following their wedding in Dec.), a home for our former Housing and Economic Development Coordinator (Joe Huizenga), a rehabbed house for the family of the burned house (neighborhood resident Tanika Anthony and her five children) and as of Jan. 2, a house for another RCM employee (Charles Bastien) and his four family members.
In all, that is three boarded-up houses (formerly used for selling and cooking drugs) along with the burned out shell of a house reclaimed for God’s Kingdom and transformed into four homes that have housed 19 people. To God be the Glory!
There is more work to be done. There are currently four boarded-up houses on the block. Strategically, the most important house is on the corner of 102nd Place and State (the actual address is 12 E. 102nd Place). For the last year it was/is a drug house. People looking for drugs, park across from the church, walk up to a window of the house and knock on the window. If they knock twice they get marijuana, if they knock three times they get crack cocaine.
We are in the process of purchasing this house and hope to have it completely rehabbed by late spring/early summer. We have a list of people looking for housing whom qualify.
We have several volunteer groups lined up to work on the house…we could use a few more. We have several donors lined up who would like to give towards this sort of project…we could use a few more.
The final picture of this sort of project is a picture of hope and transformation. A boarded-up shabby house will transform into a beautiful home. A displaced family will be rewarded with the hope of a having a place to put their roots down.
This is good work to be a part of.
Join us.
Peace,
Joe Huizenga
Director of Development |
