Photos by Mark Copier | The Grand Rapids Press
What do you do when, thanks to a lot of local flooding, your house is so mold infested that it makes your kids sick? So infested that it forces you to move out? So infested that a builder offers to rebuild and the community (Child Advocacy Center, Neighbors Plus, Habitat for Humanity, the Holland Rescue Mission, Good Samaritan Ministries, Community Action House, Catholic Charities, a local construction company and several subcontractors) decides to help?
But what about when the bank holding the mortgage won’t give the builder permission for the tear down?
That’s what has happened to Angela Alexander, her husband, five daughters and two sons. For now she’s staying in a Ministries property, but anything could happen this December, now that she can’t pay her note…
The community has agencies secured a mold test, negotiated with the mortgage company, found a temporary house, drafted a house that will only cost the family $45,000, and now the community is working on fundraising.
The next step lies in the hands of Lender Kristine Kline, vice president of marketing for the Mortgage Center out of Southfield.