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The Jewish Community Campus plans to close its main kosher kitchen. Do you approve?

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Faith-based group fixes houses

Tuesday, 26 December 2006 02:00

An interfaith organization is fixing houses for disabled, aged and poor people so they can live in dignity, a forum during Disability Awareness Week heard Oct. 26. Greg Take, the only paid full-time employee of Faithbuilders Housing Rehabilitation Ministry, Kansas City, Kan., told the forum at Olathe City Hall that after six years of operation, the organization is expanding from irregular work to regular jobs every weekend and sometimes weekdays. Faithbuilders is supported by eight churches of different denominations. The group relies largely on volunteers and building suppliers and contractors who donate material or services to help fix houses. The occupants are referred by social service agencies, the city code enforcement division, neighbors, local churches, family members and other advocacy groups. Take said most clients are elderly. Many suffer disabilities of some sort that may not be debilitating but leave them in wheelchairs or using walkers. Some clients have suffered strokes or lost spouses, he said. Workers often make houses compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Take said. This includes widening door frames, building interior ramps, moving bathrooms from upper to lower floors and raising or lowering kitchen counters so wheelchair clients can move around easily, he said. "We do this out of our love for our neighbor," Take said after the forum. "Our mission is to help others live in safety, comfort and dignity. He said a house falling apart generally signals other misfortune. "It's the outward sign that other things haven't gone well," Take said. "Being a ministry, we care about not just the physical tangibles but also our clients' emotional and spiritual state. "We bring calm into tough situations. We often work with folks who have just lost a spouse or some element of their mobility or health." He said city code enforcement staff often deal with such situations with a "heavier hand than we'd like." The forum, during Disability Awareness Week Oct. 23-27, featured 13 panelists from various organizations catering to the disabled community, including Social and Rehabilitation Services, Johnson County Developmental Supports and Olathe police and fire departments. A handful of people turned up for the forum, more than for a similar forum the previous day. Olathe's Persons With Disabilities Board organized the inaugural event. Chairman Mark Gash expressed satisfaction with the event, saying it went smoothly, presented topnotch speakers and received favorable feedback. "We are not displeased with the attendance, not for a first try," he said Tuesday. "As we do it year to year, it will become more popular. For a first-time event, you don't really expect people to come out in huge numbers. But with increasing awareness, a reputation will develop with time." The Oct. 25 forum will be broadcast several times on cable Channel 7, Gash said.|"By: Mario Sequeira

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