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Jewish World Review Oct 23, 2011 / 25 Tishrei, 5772 A Working Family Finds a Working Home…At Last By Mitch Albom
This past week, in a freshly renovated house in Cue the squeals. "I call this one!" ... "This one!" ... "I got the top one!" They were laying claim to something every child ought to have -- a bed -- but they were giddy because they had been sleeping three to a mattress in a dingy house infested with mold. Now this? "I got top bed!" ... "I got bottom bed!" Their mother, "Whose room is this?" she asked, entering a bedroom with a queen-sized mattress on a new frame. "Yours and your husband's," she was told. She fell to her knees, laid her head on the bed and began to cry. A few weeks ago, in this space, we learned about Kristy and her husband, Amando, poor working parents who simply couldn't make ends meet -- at least not enough to escape a bad deal rented house where the landlord never bothered to fix the mold, sewage or other issues. At the time, there seemed no way out. But then something happened. A house was in need of repair. A family was in need of a home. One plus one equals.... "I have never had a washer or dryer before," Kristy said. She was standing in the basement of this tidy home, looking at the laundry area, astonished that other people would do this for her. But they did and they do. And because of that, through a new program we are launching called "Mama! Sit on the couch!" the kids yelled. The idea is simple: There are too many empty or abandoned houses in But they do. And it keeps a cycle of poverty intact, while blocking It needn't be that way. If you have or know of a house that is empty, or the owner is looking to donate for a loss or a deduction, One plus one equals.... "My husband and I were sleeping in the attic," Kristy said. "We didn't have luxuries. At the end of the month it was a choice between feeding all the kids or paying the rent." Under the In the meantime, the pairing of families trying to make it with houses trying to stay upright seems a logical match. It's lemons to lemonade, right? The Wilsons have slept in homeless shelters, in a space above a church and in dilapidated housing. For the last few days, they have slept in a home. It is not fancy by suburban standards. But it is clean, it is mold-free, and it is full of children making the kind of noise they should make -- squeals, foot thumps, bed bounces. "This is a miracle," Kristy said. Not really. Just people helping other people. Thank you to those who made this possible, and those will do more. You can learn about it at workinghomesworkingfamilies.org. A house in need of attention. A family in need of a home. One plus one equals.... A community.
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