When the rubble from her burned home was razed, Elkhorn’s Alicia Hoemsen was uneasy, thinking of her pets who were lost.
Since that day, Hoemsen has been in the process of replacing the home on her property on the outskirts of Elkhorn, thanks to help from friends and from strangers who have become an important part of her journey.
She found a home for sale at Inglis, to be moved. For $4,800 she purchased it. It will take $33,000 to move the house and garage. Then $15,000 for a concrete slab for the garage. Mennonite Disaster Service based in Winnipeg has stepped up to cover the cost of the basement for her new home.
Family members read of a MDS project at Marquette and decided to reach out and see if there was any assistance available for Alicia.
Jim Reimer of Steinbach, Manitoba board chairman for MDS, consulted with the Canadian organization before he decided to check out Hoemsen’s resources and her needs.
Reimer and his wife, had a visit with Hoemsen on their way home from travelling to the USA.
Hoemsen’s GoFundMe amount of $53,000 wasn’t enough to provide occupancy but it was enough to take care of some professional services. Hearing her story and that she had no insurance, it seemed like something the MDS could help with.
Ross Penner and Greg Dyck, Manitoba Unit Chair and volunteers with MDS travelled to see the Elkhorn yard site and to Inglis to assess the replacement home. Sure enough, they felt it was a worthwhile project and committed the organization to volunteering along with a contractor, for phase one of this job.
Hoemsen been depending upon the charity of her brother and sister-in-law in Elkhorn ever since her fire last November. Now, she’s excited about her prospective new home. “Honey House, (nickname for the home) is amazing. I’m in love,” says Hoemsen. She and a friend have been to Inglis to prepare the house for the move, removing the chimney, satellite dish, TV antenna and lightening rods.
Meanwhile, Randy Barkman Construction of Cromer, along with Ralph Froese, an excavator, and a dozen local volunteers held a large work bee on Saturday, June 4. Some of Barkman’s employees even volunteered their time to this project. By Monday, June 6, the cement was poured.
Barkman says that MDS hired him to do the basement work. “I’ll be doing backfill, damp proofing, garage foundation. We are helping with some volunteer labour on the basement. Our church group helped with the basement wall setup.”
COOPERATION
It’s an unusual project for MDS, an aspect of Mennonite Central Committee. For one thing, the project is far from their base churches in the Winnipeg area. But here, two organizations - Christian Disaster Relief and MDS worked side by side.
Managing the MDS end of things, Jim Reimer is a semi-retired plumber by trade and he’s been involved in construction projects from start to finish. He and Barkman travelled to Inglis to do a final accurate measurement of the foundation of the Honey House. They liked what they found: an older package home, the pre-fab style that came from B.C. in the 1940s. It’s a storey and a half. “She has chosen a very nice, very worthwhile house to move,” said Reimer.
The GoFundMe amount will finance the move and the electrical installation.
It’s Reimer’s first project with MDS, as he only began to volunteer about 18 months ago, when he semi-retired. He says it’s satisfying to work toward occupancy for Hoemsen. He worked with disaster relief on the east coast of the USA, after Hurricane Katrina, as well as in B.C. following the fires then flood.
“Over the years, the impact we have on a person, it’s more than a physical project.” He says that MCC has a policy that takes into account the trauma of those they help. “When a client needs to talk, we take time to let them talk.”
