Methodists flip a house into a dream come true

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Two excited young boys and their grateful Mom moved into the Methodist-ECHO house just in time for the 4th of July holiday. After their trailer became uninhabitable, the family had been living with senior citizen grandparents.

The Methodist-ECHO home offers an 18-month transitional living arrangement with a full mentoring program designed to meet the family’s needs. United Methodist Women held a housewarming at the home that they made certain was fully furnished and Pastor Blake Lasater did a house blessing on July 2.

Reaction from the family as they first viewed the house a few days before would warm any heart. Mom said, “This is amazing! It is awesome! It is beautiful and nicer than I could have ever imagined.” Her eight-year-old son said as he discovered the laundry facilities, “Mom, they have a gift for you.” That “gift” was a stackable washer and dryer.

The Eureka Springs United Methodist Church is known for its involvement in the community. Pastor Lasater explains how the church decided on the home as their current mission project, “We brainstorm each year about the vision and mission of our church, and we had discussed new ways to help struggling members of our community. We were very discouraged at the apparent sub-culture of panhandlers that bounce from church to church, charity to charity, seeking money to pay utilities, bills, or gasoline. We started tracking them and discovered the same nine people would reappear every nine months, and they were using up the bulk of our mission funds. We bounced around the idea of buying an old hotel and using that as transitional housing, but then ECHO announced their plans to build the Village, and we knew immediately we would buy a house and use it as our mission home.”

The building of the home and selection process of applicants has been a learning curve.

“The applications we received reveal a large number of people who are trying to make a better life but the system is an obstacle to success” Lasater commented.

Barb Weems-Mourglia chairs the Methodist Transitional Home Selection Committee and when asked about the most rewarding thing about the process, she said, “To know that a family from our community will be given a bridge, through this home, to connect them to a better future that is full of hope and possibility.”  

At the same time, the challenge of being able to offer this opportunity to just one family was difficult. Barb said, “By far, the biggest challenge was to be faced with so many deserving folks that are struggling to find stability and know that only one at a time can be given this opportunity.” As a result, the committee has a plan “to create a resource packet to have available for future applicants that would connect them to a network of support and available help within our community,” Barb said.

The mentoring program will be a key element in the transitional housing arrangement. “Once a client is selected we sit down for an extended interview to discuss needs, problems, and challenges they face,” Lasater said.  “Once such things are identified, we ask congregational members if they have the expertise and background to be a mentor for this particular individual.  We use a mentor group of three to four people to meet with the individual once a week to assess challenges and progress being made, as well as to discover additional ways we may help in setting them up for success.”

The home will help pave the family’s successful pathway to their future. The mom works and is also a student pursuing a degree in radiologic technology. “This is a big relief,” she said. “I love our grandparents but they need to have their own time. This gives everybody our own space. We will be able to come home, cook dinner, do homework, and have a basic routine and be so close to everything. It is such a blessing for me and my boys.”