The First Family

We are choosing a family from the area where I live as the First Family to be assisted by the Angels of Abundance. I can give a first hand account of how our Angels Projects is succeeding or needs to be tweaked. As this is a new project, we will be developing perimeters of what is allowable and what is not.
If you find a family in your town whom you feel fits the concept group we want to help, please submit it in an email or in the Angels Blog.

Remember that these families are not well off and are struggling. However they have pride and there needs to be some sensitivity shown about that. You will find some of the characteristics about this family similar to the families you will find in your town who need help but rarely ask. This is the First family of many more to come.

The First Family consists of a Mom and Dad in their late thirties. There are 4 children to support. The oldest girl is 18 and starting the struggle to go to college. She is not living at home, but support payments must be made for her by the First Family's budget. The Second child is a 15 year boy. He loves skate-boarding and stereo speakers. He scrounges up old speakers and makes his own sound systems with old equipment. He is on the cusp of entering the job market. So he is learning employment skills. The next child is a beautiful, shy little girl who started life with a hearing disability. She is 11 this year. School has obviously been a struggle because of the hearing. She loves drawing pictures and she tries very hard to fit in. The fourth child is a rambunctious boy. He is 9 years old now. He is a very willing helper. If ever anyone needed to learn to volunteer, it would be from watching these children. Mom has a low-paying retail job, Dad works 12 to 15 hour shifts on his job. All of the kids are very willing helpers and work hard at school. These children all love the outdoors. Also included in this household are 2 grandparents. They contribute what they can. But life is very hard for seniors here. All members of this family have one set of behaviors in common. They are kind and compassionate and all of them have a streak of shyness. This family rarely asks for help. Our Guardian Angels feel this First Family is a valid start to the Angels Projects.

Ok. That's the family. Now the project.

This particular family was really having difficulty with space, as there are so many to take care of. They lived in an apartment, with no yard space and not even a playground nearby. There were no other children in the general area. A house finally came on the market that was very old, had been greatly abused, and was offered very cheap because it had been damaged by a break-in while it was empty. It has a wonderful huge yard though. The street has kids in almost every house on the block! This is a bonus*

Mom and Dad, of the First Family, managed to pull enough together to make a down payment. It took two months of working all day, then going at night to tear-out the mess. During the tear-out, they discovered very old wiring, no insulation, and worst yet, a very severe foundation problem. Hiring experts to do the work costs a lot of money. Much more than they had available.

They discovered that the floor joists under the bathroom upstairs had been cut right through by a previous plumber. No wonder the floors were sagging and the plumbing leaked. There were no supports. The ceiling below had a total of four false ceilings in place to cover up the problem. Really moldy yuck! The kitchen area was really moldy, gross and un-savable. It had to be removed as well.

Finally, the house was cleared out back to the studs. Each of these issues has to be repaired properly. So week by week, if they could only afford to buy a few 2 x 6's or 3 batts of insulation, or 10 sheets of drywall, that's what they planned. However, their rental term was up so they had no choice but to move into the house as is. This may not be so bad in a warm country, but in Canada, it gets very cold. They scrounged the money for the first bit of insulation and vapor barrier and got that in upstairs. Then they pulled together and bought enough drywall to close the upstairs rooms. This was the one time, the First Family asked for help. They asked the church members where they attend, to please help put up drywall. 3 people showed up to help one weekend. Other than that, they struggled on getting the rooms as ready as possible.

Bear in mind, that First Family couldn't finish with the mudding or painting, partly because of cost, but mostly because of the foundation. Until the foundation is secured, they cannot even put drywall on the walls downstairs and certainly can't mudd the upstairs. When the foundation work is getting done, the house will shift a bit, which would cause all the work to crack. Best not to do it until the foundation is repaired.

So the upshot is this. They had to move the family in with some drywall in place upstairs, one toilet was hurriedly installed downstairs, no kitchen, no water to wash anything, no shower or tub, no cooking facilities, minimum electrical outlets and lights working, no hot water supply and no furnace at all, and bare studs walls, with windows that some of the panes were falling out.

You know what? The First Family were glad to be there!! They were grateful to have a home with a yard and a decent neighborhood. For the first three weeks they cooked on a barbecue, carried their dirty dishes to a friend's house everyday to wash, and took their showers and laundry there also to stay as clean as possible. And still they are grateful!

Each week, they acquired a little more material to continue repairs. They got a sink, a shower, a stove, a furnace, a hot water tank, and a temporary island as a counter with a kitchen sink in it. Each week, they have made small advances. You see, for example, the weekend they bought the shower stall, they had to wait until the next pay to buy the copper pipe to hook the shower up. Then they had to wait another week to be able to pay for the taps. And so it goes.

Over the last two weeks, (October 10th, 2008), they have shored up the front section of the house from underneath, dug the foundation trench, and had new footings poured. This was a tremendous, back-breaking struggle. The soil is pure clay. Now the First Family have acquired some cement block to finish the foundation wall. They had to hire a contractor to pour the footings. They had no choice on this. But much dollars from their budget. The front foundation was the worst, as the house had shifted off the foundation at the front. They will have to complete the foundation work around the whole house but priorities (like the winter coming soon) are calling. The rest is secure enough for at least one season more.

The First Family are still grateful to have a home with a yard and a decent neighborhood! But - they need to close and secure the house as soon as possible because winter is coming quickly now! (Remember that through all of this, this family is still having to pay all the costs that a family has, including food supply, gas to get to work everyday (that ain't cheap), water, hydro, shoes, winter coats,etc.) This is what the Angels Projects would like us all to help them with!

When this area of foundation is finished, they will be able to insulate and drywall downstairs. They are still minus the materials, including the mud. They also are still living with the temporary kitchen, the old plywood patch floors, unfinished upstairs, air-gap windows, and etc.

Where the Guardian Angels and this website and all of you come into this picture is here. We can help the First Family by donating some money for materials. That will speed up the process for them. We can go through the list of Ways To Help on this website to see what's feasible there for this project. We can see what suggestions any of you have made either on the blog or by emailing this site.

This is a start. The Guardian Angels and I can help, and you can help too! The Angels and I will donate money from any items sold through our online store at www.angels-of-abundance-gifts.com I have put key items on special sales. The money raised from these "sale" item's will be donated to the Angels Projects. These will be indicated as Angel Project items.

If you wish to donate money directly, there is a donations button on here to do so.

As they are a 'local' family, we can bring the information about the Angels Projects to local retailers (and offer to mention their generosity on the Angel List of Helpers) and see if they would be willing to allow the First Family some discounts on the items they need to close the house.

We will definitely post results on the Angels Blog (side button). Well this page is long indeed. But it's the first. Let's see what we can do to help. If it works for this family, then we'll choose a new project from any that you've listed that also need some help. How can you help?

Anyone reading this can promote it to their friends and fellow on-line groups through the community links below that they are a part of.

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