Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Weeding ceased--families supported...maybe!

Our church sits on 3 and 1/3 acres of property that is completely paid off. We actually occupy about 2/3 of an acre with the remaining 2 and 1/2 acres sitting as an empty lot. It's been empty for 44 years. Every spring and summer we battle the weeds and pick up the trash so that the City of Phoenix doesn't write us up for violations of various rules.

One of the refugee agencies that we work with is the International Rescue Committee, (IRC). They have a micro-enterprise arm that helps refugees set up small businesses and one of the type businesses they help set up is organic farming for refugees who come from a farming backround. But here in Phoenix, there isn't alot of property available to do so....hmmm. You guessed it. I contacted them and we are in the process of trying to turn our lot into what the IRC folks say could be sufficient land to support 10 refugee families full time, (each farming 1/4 of an acre during the 4 growing seasons that Phoenix has).

The major obstacle: City of Phoenix water is not an option, just way too expensive. The only option is what is called SRP water which is used for farming and is one tenth the cost of city water. But, to access it, we would have to pay to bring it from across the major street of Dunlap over on to our property. This will take approximately 25,000.00 dollars. No way we can do it...but it looks like God may be bringing it to pass through a church in Albuquerque that has a heart for people from Burma. They are in the midst of raising the funds for the water. We'll also need funds for an 8 foot block fence around the whole property. We haven't estimated the cost for that yet, but it won't be cheap.

Would you mind keeping this in prayer too?

FOLLOW UP: The apartment complex I mentioned last time is still headed for foreclosure, the deadline is March 8. No miracle yet on that front, so please keep praying.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

"Legal right", but no heart to exercise it....

In the recent update that I sent out to my mailing list I talked about a couple from Croatia who came to this country with nothing and have been very successful in real estate--specifically in purchasing rundown apartments and fixing them up. They now own two low-income apartment complexes in tough neighborhoods here in Phoenix and the vast majority of occupants in their complexes are refugees. This couple genuinely loves refugees and they have bent over backwards to help them in numerous ways.

When the economy was good, the average time for a non-English speaking refugee to find entry-level, minimum wage work was about 3 months. Since the economy has slowed down, it is now taking 8-9 months for them to find work. The challenge: the resettlement agencies and available funding from other sources is sufficient to cover their rent for a maximum of 5 months.

Because of this couple's love, care, and concern for the plight of refugees, they have been VERY patient with refugees who are unable to pay their rent. They have been carrying the load themselves for some refugees who are 4 to 5 months behind on rent. They don't have the heart to evict them, even though they have the legal right to do so. They know that the refugees would literally have no place to go if they were forced to move out of their apartments. With all the refugees have already suffered in their own countries and in the countries where they lived in refugee camps, this couple just can't bring themselves to play a role in adding the experience of homelessness in America to the baggage these special people already carry.

Well, this last Saturday, while I was visiting one of their complexes, I had a meeting with the wife. In tears, she told me that the other complex, the one they owned first, is now in foreclosure proceedings. Her and her husband have used up their resources, and they were unable to pay the full mortgage payment on the complex for the past two months. Her heart was broken. But it wasn't over the loss of income she would experience or the damage that would be done to their credit. Her heart broke because if it's foreclosed on, a new property manager will be brought in by the bank or a new owner will come in, and it's very likely that many refugees will be evicted when they are unable to pay their rent within the legal time frame.

She said there is a group of people thinking about investing, but it doesn't look good. The deadline is March 8. The clock is ticking. Would you mind praying?

Monday, February 8, 2010

Pre-boarding announcements

I'm in the midst of putting together my next update that I send out to my e-mail list. Once I launch that update, I'll be boarding this blog again on a regular basis. Thank you to those who have responded here and through other means. I'm continually amazed that so many folks genuinely care about Helen and me and want to hear the latest events in the story that God is permitting us to live out.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Almost ready...

If anyone is out there that still checks this blog? I believe the time might be near to gear up again. Does anyone care?