Terril home project taking shape

(Photo submitted) While volunteers such as these have been assisting Lisa Jensen and her two daughters to rebuild their Terril home since May, more are being sought to complete the project. The major repairs are being spearheaded by the Fuller Center for Housing's Iowa Lakes covenant partner.

A home repair and rebuilding ministry aimed at assisting lower-income Clay and Dickinson County families has officially taken off.

The work currently being accomplished on a Terril home -- the first project house in need of major repairs approved by local Fuller Center for Housing (FCH) partner board members -- began occurring in May.

"Part of the local Fuller Center's thing is we don't want to see these houses deteriorating and the resources they have becoming unusable, whether it's reclaiming the lumber to use in other projects or obtaining the home and fixing it up so it can be a home for a family where it sits. All of those are ideas that we want to address with our Fuller Center for Housing (Iowa Lakes covenant partnership)," Ed Peterson, executive director of the local partnership, explained.

The FCH is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide. By forming partnerships with local organizations, the Fuller Center provides the structure, guidance and support that communities need to build and repair homes for the impoverished among them.

Peterson, who's skilled in this line of work, initiated the two-county partnership effort 18 months ago after his wife, Amy Peterson, read about Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, starting the FCH in the spring of 2005.

"It seemed more in line with what I was feeling called to do than Habitat," Peterson said. " ... Part of it is that until recently Habitat tended to stay away from the repair ministry and did most of its work with new constructions."

The Petersons' application to become a FCH covenant partner was completed in December. In addition to themselves, current board members for the Iowa Lakes partnership include Nick Poolman, Stacy Newgard, Wendy Alexander, Dave and Erika Adolph, Tom Bruns and Craig Grothen.

"One of the things we're waiting on right now is we had sent in our articles of incorporation, but they got sent back because we needed to make a few changes and then send that in again with Iowa to be incorporated ourselves. After that," Peterson said, "I think just supplying corporate (FCH) with bylaws and a few other things and we'll qualify to be under their group 501(c)3 status."

Project house taking shape in Terril, in need of more volunteers

Lisa Jensen's father bought the house at 405 S. Fourth St. in Terril a few years ago. Plans were to fix it up and make it into a permanent home for Jensen and her family. With her father's guidance, siding and insulation were purchased, a few interior walls were torn down, plaster and lath were removed from the house's interior.

But work on the home stalled when Jensen's father was diagnosed with cancer and he lost his battle with the deadly disease in 2007. Without his guidance, Jensen and her two children were unable to continue working on the home.

"The Jensen family contacted us while we were still looking for board members," Peterson recalled. "We indicated to them that it might be a while before we'd get to their project. But when we heard their story, we realized that God was guiding us to help this family and was presenting them to us as an incentive to get started."

FCH Iowa Lakes volunteers have lent assistance on the home since late May.

"When we became associated with it, it needed all new plumbing and wiring, walls in various areas and Sheetrock on the walls. It also needed insulation," Peterson said. "Some of that we started doing. It also needs an addition to have enough bedrooms for each member of the family and to include the bathroom."

A dedication date for the rebuilt Terril home has tentatively been scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 29. FCH covenant partners across the U.S. and around the world are planning to build and/or renovate at least 100 simple, decent houses in the weeks and months leading up to the inaugural Millard Fuller Legacy Build week, Aug. 30-Sept. 4, with all the homes being dedicated during that week.

"Our goal is to have the house livable then, if not before, even if we're not completely done with it at that time," Peterson said.

But in order for this ambition to be realized, assistance from more volunteers is needed.

"We're looking for somebody who can take care of the wiring. We have somebody working on the plumbing and we have people working on the framing, insulating and siding," Peterson said. "Our scheduled work days are Saturdays. Sometimes we do work on Sunday evenings. If we had interest, we'd find somebody who could do some work during the week if we could find somebody to lead some crews, which we don't have at this time."

Volunteers are encouraged to offer advance notice of the dates and times they can assist so appropriate materials will be on hand.

How the Fuller Center for Housing program works:

* Homeowner submits an application to a local covenant partner.

* The Fuller Center provides a written job estimate and work agreement.

* A repayment plan based on the homeowner's budget is developed.

* Volunteers repair the home.

* When the work is done, the homeowner is given a Greater Blessing box with enough envelopes in it to repay the cost of the materials over an agreed-upon period and on terms they can afford.

* If unexpected bills or medical emergencies come up and a monthly payment cannot be made, the payment schedule is simply increased by one month.

* Homeowner payments are recycled to purchase materials to help another neighbor in need.

To volunteer your time with the Iowa Lakes covenant partner of the Fuller Center for Housing, which serves Clay and Dickinson counties, contact Ed Peterson, executive director, by calling (712) 441-5437 or e-mailing fullercenteriowalakes@gmail.com. Applications may be obtained by contacting Peterson or any FCH Iowa Lakes board member. Additional information on this program may also be received by viewing http://fullercenteriowalakes.blogspot.co... or http://fullercenter.org/ online.