Of Grants and Storms and Health in Day by Day

I’ll be offline this week and next. Not COMPLETELY offline, but not as interactive as much, as I begin to write a new grant. The focus this time is on women and children. Grant givers are much like book agents: everyone wants something slightly different, and most are vague about what they’re looking for.

I’m also slowly pulling together an idea for a small house community that can offer low income housing for the two groups my non-profit serves: working young people between 18 and 35, and seniors. I envision a grouping of small homes, ranging from one to two bedrooms with 1.5 baths. The idea is to build community by placing one senior in a 1 bedroom next to a young family in a 2 bedroom. In order to live in the cheaper housing, you must be willing to donate a certain amount of time to each other: a ride to the doctor, work in the garden, make a meal and eat together, etc.

In the city I live in, a standard two bedroom home typically rents for $1500 a month or more. I’d like to work the price down to $800 for a 2 bedroom (that might not be realistic) and $500 for a 1 bedroom. I’m thinking one story homes, POSSIBLY a loft in the 2 bedroom homes. I know where I can get the land (hopefully) and the contractor (hopefully) and I know where to find the grant money, along with a Capital Fund drive. The challenge (other than getting an agreement to rent me the land needed for $1 a year for 50 years and getting my son to agree to be lead contractor for cost and getting my husband to donate time in retirement) will be in infrastructure (the electrical service, water and sewer, sidewalks, etc). Oh, and the neighbors, who will claim concern about property values when they’re really worried that Black people will bring crime.

FIRSTLY, most of the renters will be white, so they can all stop fanning themselves and having vapors. But, yes, there will be people of color in the mix, too. Secondly, the community will be walled in (to protect the garden from wild hogs, not to keep them in). Thirdly, it will be a small enclave and it will be attractive. And finally, these are NOT people on Welfare…they are working or retired.

So…when you say your prayers, ask for some grace for me, please, as I approach some pretty big Goliaths with my slingshot over the next two years.

If it was all in place today, here is who I would choose from my Millennial group: Client #85 is a young couple, both working on commission, so income rises and falls unpredictably. Client #72 is a young woman who works hard (2 jobs) but makes just a bit more than minimum wage. Client #40 is a single mom with two kids. Client #65 would like to go into nursing if she could get her transcript unfrozen (we’re working on it). One is African American, one is Hispanic, and the others are White. I would intersperse them with Seniors, as I said. Low income housing without the ghetto.

I know it is small scale, but if I could make it work, it could be a beautiful prototype for other communities.

Moving on…

I invited someone from a facebook group to join Prosebox and he did. His name is Rob: https://www.prosebox.net/box/12440/ Drop by and give him a friendly hello if you can.

Typhoon Mangkhut has slammed into the Philippines with a vengeance. While we know no one there, my heart breaks for the suffering people, as it does for those along the eastern seaboard of the United States as hurricane Florence (now a tropical storm) continues to pick up moisture from off the ocean and dump it on land. Historic flooding is expected. One friend in Wilmington NC said a tornado passed down her street, sounding like a freight train and popping her ears as it passed (she ran to the basement, but it did not harm any homes). She’s lost power. Another NC friend who lives near Charlotte still has power but one room has flooded. Rebuilding is hard. Trump has promised a quick response, but then Trump also claims victory in Puerto Rico, so I’m figuring every man for himself and thank God for Red Cross and Salvation Army because my money is on THEM!

And finally, I’m going for a liver scan on Tuesday. Just something I want checked out. The doctor isn’t too concerned but I want my mind at ease. The new BP meds seem to be helping, but I have had a couple of bouts of dizziness. That is to be expected as my body adjusts to the new medication but I don’t like it.

Talk atcha all in a couple of weeks!