Minutes to Atkins Project Meeting 8-24-10 12:00 PM at 907 Forrer Blvd., Kettering, Ohio
Atkins Project Main Web site
Attending:
Tim Bete, St. Mary’s Corporation
Julie Vann, City of Kettering
Betty Cornwell, Advocate
Pastor Tracy Wright, Beavercreek Christian Church
Kathy Atkins, Home Owner
Andrea Harker, Montgomery County Development Disabilities Council
Judy Grant, Beavercreek Christian Church and Girl Scouts Troop 1555
Fred Weir, Architect and Construction Manager
Richard Freeman, Beavercreek Christian Church
Bill Cuthrell, Beavercreek Christian Church
Nancy Brown, Kettering Schools, Fairmont High School
Louis Laquaglia, Kettering Schools, Fairmont High School, Construction Trades
Barry Strahorn, Community Action Committee
Angie Cali, Girl Scouts
Tom Robillard, City of Kettering
Angela, City of Kettering
Julie Vann opened the meeting after serving delicious pizza and root beer floats to all the members. Everyone at the table at that time introduced themselves.
Julie introduced Tim Bete and he gave an update on the Communications for the Atkins Project.
Tim reported that there has been lots of traffic on the web site www.atkins.thankfulhome.org since last month’s meeting. We have $15,000 now donated to the project. Richard Freeman suggested that on all communications we include the web site so that people can go and take a look and not have to serch for it on the internet.
Andrea Harker gave the next report about what is going on with the social services for the Atkins family.
Andrea reported that the children will be supplied services Through the Developmental Disabilities Services as soon as she can get Katie and Bobbie re-qualified for them. She will also be working with Katie to help with the “running away” issues since these are big concerns for Katie’s safety. She will be working with Kim to obtain better services through the school. Andrea reported that children with autism do have the tendency to run away, and be escape artists like Katie. She reported that there are many spectrums of Autism and Katie’s kids have the different spectrums represented, which is a lot for Kathy to work with. Through the children we will try to get Kathy the support she needs like respite care for Katie and help with getting Kathy out more to relax. Katie is the biggest challenge at this point.
Betty Cornwell reported that she is working on getting appropriate IEPs for the children. Andrea Harker and Betty will attend the IEP meetings together to see if they can get the schools to create and follow good IEPs that allow for success and to teach Katie how to use the potty, communicate, etc. Betty also reported that the Kettering Schools has offered to help Kathy with organization skills, parenting classes, etc through South Community Behavioral l Healthcare. Richard Freeman commented to Kathy that we want to help her whole family and not just fix the residence because without the supports to help the family get back on its feet we may not improve what caused the current situation, so we are looking at a holistic approach to this project. Kathy did state that her house had gotten in the condition because of her illness over the past year. Kathy stated that she knows how to do homemaking skills and she is actually using an organization system called, “Fly Lady” to help her clean and organize her house. She has been using it for the last week and has seen big progress with the cleaning of the house. Betty also added that she had tried to get someone she knew come in and clean the home and shampoo the carpets but that didn’t work out, so she will keep trying. Maybe she will try ServPro next.
Betty also reported that she was so proud of Kathy because Kathy had been making phone calls asking for donations as well. Betty wrote up a rubric of what Kathy should say on the phone and ever since that time Kathy has been calling several businesses and organizations. Betty commented on how much Kathy has been coming out of her personal space and really reaching out for help. This project has improved her self confidence and her enthusiasm. Betty is seeing some great growth in Kathy through this project! Congratulations Kathy!
In addition to the counseling help, Betty was able to find a place for the Atkins family to stay during the refurbishment. Charles Williams of the Shakertown Farm, on Shakertown Rd. in Beavercreek has graciously allowed the Atkins family to reside in the house and on the grounds from November 18, 2010 until February 18, 2010 for free. The only problem with this was the pets are not allowed to reside there. So far we have been able to find several people to house all the dogs. We just need someone to house the cat for the 3 months.
Julie then started going over the list of rooms adopted and who we have to refurbish those rooms and which ones still need adopted.
She introduced Judy Grant, from Beavercreek Christian Church and Girl Scout Troop 1555.
Judy reported that her Girl Scout troop was working on earning their Silver Awards, which is the 2nd highest award a Girl Scout can earn. It has a 40 hour requirement for the girls and has to involve a project to better the community, so this project fits that description. Her and her girls have adopted Bobbie’s room. They will provide the art work for the room, and décor as well as curtains, etc. Angie Cally was with Judy who is an interior decorator who can provide murals on Bobbie’s walls for him as well. Kathy told Angie that Bobbie would like a dragon on his wall. Judy asked about what will be done when they get into the room. The room’s walls and floors will already be supplied so all they have to do is to decorate and furnish.
Kimberly’s room will be completed by Fairhaven Church.
The Kettering Assembly of God is working with WSU to do Katie’s room, by coming up with sensory types of objects that can be placed in her room.
The master bedroom will be adopted by the Fairmont High School class of 1978, the class that Kathy graduated with.
The kitchen had been adopted but we may have lost our donor, so we will have to make contact with them and make sure they are still interested, or get someone else to adopt them.
We still need the living room, utility room and storage room to be adopted.
Fairmont High School has generously donated the building of Katie’s bedroom from the floor up to the roof, including pouring the slab, framing, roofing, dry walling and anything else needed to get it ready to be decorated. Louis Laquaglia and Nancy Brown work with the children in the Construction Trades division of FHS and will use the students to build the room. Louis reported that he has done 15-20 houses with his students, his most recent one being at 2425 Delta. It is an 1800 square foot house. The program is a NCCER program and is also monitored by OSHA for safety. The students are exposed to every part of home construction. They have even helped with Habitat for Humanity homes. Louis reported that for plumbing he uses Howerton Plumbing on Dixie Dr. because they are always willing to help with his projects.
Louis stated that for security reasons he would suggest an alarm panel that would help Kathy know if Katie was opening a door or window because it would alarm to let her know. The alarm system could be installed fairly quickly and might solve the problem of security for Katie. He also suggests Egress windows so that fireman could get in easier if there was a fire. In addition to the security, Louis said that the wiring and rewiring will not be a problem because the new addition will be close to the breaker panel.
Angela of the City of Kettering was given the floor by Julie at this point. Angela announced that the City of Kettering, through a grant to the schools can provide $20,000-$25,000 to pay for the addition! What wonderful news that is! So now we can basically pay for this whole project with this generous donation. Kathy Atkins then asked if she needed to shut down the gas, electric, water, etc before she leaves the house. Louis said no that he would take care of that. Louis asked where utility lines we located and the response was that they were in the rear and the main line should be clear.
Louis asked about lead in the house and Julie told Louis that there was some lead paint on the oldest siding, so that would have to be dealt with in a special way.
Julie announced that we need to get the floor plans to the city by tomorrow so they will be on the September zoning board agenda. She asked that Louis and Fred Weir meet after the meeting and see if they can make that happen. We are looking at an October excavation if the plans are approved.
The timeframe for the building and refurbishment was also presented by Julie.
1. October – excavation for new addition
2. November – Moving Atkins family out of house and into Shakertown Farm house. Framing and Roofing
3. December – Electrical work
4. January – Design Teams implement their plans for each room.
5. February –Have an open house for all who want to see the finished product; donors, volunteers, builders, etc. around Feb 3-6. Move family back into house around Feb 7-8.
Richard Freeman was given the floor to report on the next steps and organizing our project. He brought up the fact that it would be nice to have a video of the project that looked like a documentary so we could send it to the local TV stations, Cable Channels, etc. Beavercreek Christian Church has the equipment and the person to do this as well, it is a question of the cost of the project. It was decided that Pastor Tracy Wright, Tim and Richard would all collaborate to see what can be done for the video between all the resources.
Richard handed out a Summary Schedule that was 6 pages long that summarizes what each major group will do and in what time frame. We decide d on the leaders for each group and placed those into the forms. The following are the results of that discussion:
• Social Support – Betty Cornwell and Andrea Harker
• Communications and Resources – Tim Bete and Kettering Schools
• Temporary Relocation – we have secured the alternate living space, Bcc will help with packing up and preparing Shakertown Farm, but may not be able to help with moving objects, Betty Suggested possible Youth Group activity. Kathy will drive the children to and from school for the 3 months.
• Remodel – Major Trades – Fred Weir and Louis Laquaglia
• Remodel – Individual Rooms – Fred Weir
• New Construction – Addition – Louis Laquaglia
Richard asked if we had looked into sewer lines and where they dump etc. Louis said that he uses a firm called Waker for this part of his projects.
Julie announced that our next meeting would be the End of September, Tuesday September 28th at the Kettering City Offices again.
The meeting adjourned at 1:15PM.
Respectfully submitted by Betty Cornwell
