Kenneth on 9th: Needs help.

[Gloria]

Some of you may remember Kenneth. He was a "Make It Happen" back in Nov 2010. Kenneth likes to work on his own house and is always tinkering about.

This week he got himself into a jam trying to repair some rotten wood at the back of his house. He removed key structural elements. Without realizing what he was doing, he has seriously compromised the structural integrity of the rear of his house. Now the house he and his family have owned since his grandmother bought it years ago, is condemned and will likely end up as an emergency demolition.

Here is a video of Kenneth taken before our Make It Happen in November of 2010.

URL=http://s860.photobucket.com/albums/ab165/sheclown/?action=view&current=MVI_2738.mp4][/URL]

Okay Community this is the deal:

We need to raise $2500 for Kenneth and it has to happen quickly. I just got off the phone from him. It has finally sunk in what he has done to the home he and his family have lived in for decades. We need to temporarily brace the back of his house. We need to pull a permit, get some supplies for temporary bracing. I believe I can talk our beloved architect into helping us, but we need to come together to help him and to keep from losing this house.

Labor will be free and a love gift from Glory Homes, but we need help with the hard costs.

Kenneth is on disability and has promised to pay $150 a month toward the debt. Can we get some help?

This will only stabilize the house. It will not remove the condemnation, but it is a start, a very important one.

It needs to happen within the next 24 hours.

[movedsouth]

Great response so far. Looks like we have $600 in cash, free labor from Gloria and from the architect! Need a couple hundred more. Otherwise... the banner in the footer will go to "0" again tomorrow or next week.

[Gloria]

More money has come in. Thank you so much for your loving response.

We also have an electrician who will work for free.

Joe has challenged me to look at this not just to stabilize, but to see what we need to do to keep Kenneth and his family in his house.

I will talk to code today.

It is sort of a long shot, but we won't know unless we try.

[Naples Chica]

Where can I donate just a little money

[nvrenuf]

Where can I donate just a little money

http://forum.preservationsos.org/ has a paypal donate button

[Gloria]

After plying our architect with some of Mark and Tommy's special breakfast in a cup, he willingly agreed to draw up the plans for temporary bracing of Kenneth's house, do it quickly and do it for free. With those plans hours later, I was able to pull the permit yesterday afternoon.

Our electrician already visited the site and will be helping us as well.

This community has been immediate in their response to help Kenneth and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Our plan is to build the temporary bracing tomorrow. Three "walls" to hold up the back corner of the house. Then the building department inspects which should hold off any abatement by the city and keep the house secure.

The next step is to get Kenneth back into his home and we do that by removing the condemnation. I will be pulling an alteration and repair permit to do the repairs necessary to get a certificate of occupancy. Nicole is compiling our to-do list with an eye toward donated supplies and eager helping hands.



Removing the condemnation will be a longer process, but with the support from the neighborhood, which has been phenomenal, it can be done.

Thank you to all who pledged to help with muscle and with dollars. Nicole Lopez will be in touch

[iloveionia]

Friday, Gloria raced around and pulled the necessary permits to stabilize Kenneth's backside of the house. It took her all day.
This morning, she, Joe, and Danny put in 5 hours of work to brace the back.
It's braced and safe.
Neighbors donated hundreds of dollars to pay for the materials to make it happen, all received within just hours of Gloria's post for help.
Tomorrow, the Chief of Code Enforcement, Kim Scott, comes out to the site to assess. Gloria moved so fast b/c it appeared as though an emergency demolition was eminent.
Well. Not anymore.
She had architect plans and direction from the city's contracted engineer.
The house will remain condemned, however it is is structurally safe NOW.
The continued plan is to get it up to code and make it habitable again with the certificate of occupancy.
Kudos to Gloria and Joe to say the least.

[iloveionia]

Thanks to Joe, Gloria and Danny for stabilizing Kenneth's house on Sunday.
Further thanks to neighbors who quickly sent cash our way to pay for materials and permits.
Springfield is filled with hope and love: something we all already know, but still is very important to say.

[bananas]

We have lived across the street from Kenneth for the past 8 years. He is really a great neighbor and helps us out whenever we need anything. THANK YOU to everyone who has donated their time or money to help him! His family home is very important to him and he tries to do what he can to keep it looking nice. We love his jazz band that plays on the porch sometimes and we hope his home is able to be saved so we can continue to be great neighbors and enjoy his music, company, and helping hand. THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!

[iloveionia]

House is SAFE with code enforcement and Atlantic Engineering inspecting the temporary structrual bracing this morning. It "passed" so to speak.
Absolute thanks to Joe and Gloria for moving at lightening speed to pull permits and do the work to save Kenneth's house.