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- Grant Application Information
- Grant Recipients
Emergency Grants Issued For Flood Victims
June flooding hit central Indiana hard, and with thousands of people left newly-homeless, the REALTOR® Foundation Board has taken action to help those in need.
On June 19, the Board voted unanimously to extend two emergency grants of $5,000 each – a total of $10,000 - to Christian Help, Inc. in Johnson County and Desert Rose Foundation in Morgan County as they both attempt to overcome flood damage. Three of Christian Help’s family mobile homes were destroyed and must be replaced. Desert Rose will exceed their insured maximum of $30,000 while replacing drywall, floors, baseboards, cabinets and several other items throughout their facility. Both organizations were REALTOR® Foundation grant recipients in 2008.
The REALTOR® Foundation supports organizations in central Indiana who serve and house our homeless neighbors. Ranging from victims of domestic violence to men with medical needs and entire families, the Foundation’s grant recipients just need a helping hand.
See where our 2004-2008 grant recipients are located:
Read these stories from actual grant recipients:
From Christian Help, Inc.’s Fall 2007 newsletter
‘I lost everything while serving a three year prison sentence. Upon release, I had just over thirty days to get a home. I had not way to come up with the deposit and rent. I had no job. Everywhere I turned seemed to be a dead-end. I filled out at least fifty applications. I encountered negative feedback over having felonies at every job prospect. While applying for apartments I received the same negative feedback. “We don’t allow felons to live here.” “We can’t hire you due to your felony.” I had served my time, 1095 days. Yet I felt I was now serving an additional sentence.
I felt abandoned and uncared for. I certainly at this point could have reverted to old practices. Thoughts and feelings of impending doom seemed endless. Where do you turn when society has cast you aside? When you’ve made the “mistake” that’s haunting you, what do you do? …So I prayed. I prayed so hard and so specific that when my prayers were answered there was just no way I could refute that God went to work especially for me.
A few days passed and I received a phone call from the very lady who refused to hire me and was to the point of being rude about it. She hired me! I thanked God and acknowledged His works. I received another call just on time from an apartment community. The office lady had a husband in prison and had empathy for me and allowed me a chance at leasing an apartment and only having my job for one week. Then people from the Christian Help program went to work getting me the things I needed to have for a home. They too were God’s servant helping him in His works.’
Aaron Finney’s Story:
On Saturday afternoon, June 27, 2005 while I was sitting on the side of my bed watching a sports program on television, I was thirsty and got up to get a drink of water and passed out.
I was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The next thing I recall it is a week later, July 4, 2005 and I am in the intensive care unit at Wishard. I am not able to move because I am strapped to my bed, as I was tossing and turning and the nurses were afraid that I would fall out on the floor and hurt myself.
About 25 minutes after I woke up, a doctor came into the room –when he saw that I had regained consciousness he almost started to cry. The doctor has resigned himself to the fact that I was not going to wake up. He had never seen anyone regain consciousness from a blood glucose level of 904. You see, I did not know that I was diabetic.
The doctor said I had been in a diabetic coma from June 27, 2005 to when I awoke at 4:00 AM on July 4, 2005. Once I was conscious I began taking insulin to control my diabetes.
When I tried to get up to walk I found that I could not as my leg muscles did not respond as a result of diabetic neuropathy. After I got out of the intensive care unit, I then was sent to Lockfield Village Rehabilitation Center. I was there for three months. It was while I was at Lockfield that I met Mark Douglas from the Health Recovery Program. If it were not for the Health Recovery Program and its staff, I would have ended up homeless and on the streets.
The Health Recovery Program is probably the best thing about my getting sick. And it was because of the HRP that I am now living in my own apartment; I have income coming in and nutritious food to eat and access to health care. My primary provider is Dr. Louis Winternheimer at Raphael Health Center which is close to where I live. I check my glucose levels everyday and they fall consistently between 105-140. Today, my life is completely changed for the better and I owe it to the HRP.
One final note, as a result of my success, I am now employed part-time at the Health Recovery Program.
‘Tiffany’s’ Story:
I haven’t been hit since August 13, 2006.
My name is “Tiffany” and I’m a former resident of Sheltering Wings. All my life I have been in an abusive situation. My parents were abusive, and I married abuse. I was a Pastor’s wife for 17 years and after church on Sunday I’d be beaten, either verbally or literally.
God and I became friends at Sheltering Wings. There, I learned He loved me, that my body was His temple, and I needed to join His side by leaving abuse behind and protecting myself. Instead of trying to get God on my side by “making things right” I got on His side. God is not a control freak; He’s not abusive.
Many miracles happen at Sheltering Wings; money comes, classes happen, a building stands. But just as great a miracle and known to only a few is this: I haven’t been hit since August 13th. |
