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I know it doesn’t look like much, but there’s an orchard back there. Pear trees, two kinds of apple trees, a peach tree (or two), grape vines, blackberry’s - and much more. It would be a great help for someone to become the “Orchard Director” and help us maintain it. Of course clients could help with the actual labor part. However, we need someone that understands what to do and could guide us.
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Our very own fire hydrant! Hooray! There has to be one of these within 300 ft. of any commercial structure (a commercial code requirement). So, we had to install one.
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These new steps get us from the new parking area in front of the main house, up to the level where there is access to the porches.
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I have no idea what this is. It has something to do with the county requirements concerning the fire hydrant and our connection to the water system. I do know though - it was expensive!
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| Digging the hole for the fire hydrant. |
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| These guys are installing the water main. |
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| Randy and Suzie Corley helped us get these from a hotel in Atlanta that is being remodeled. These units will become the closets for clients in their dorm room. |
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| We also got these nice tables. |
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| Pray for us - Click here for a list of prayer needs.
Make referrals to people who need help with life dominating issues related to alcohol, substance abuse, and sexual brokenness. Make a financial contribution - Click here. |
Tags: Alcohol Abuse, Christian Counseling and Discipleship, HopeQuest, Residential Recovery Program, Sexual Brokenness, Substance Abuse
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I hope you will take a moment to look at some of the photo’s of the new Crossroads Campus at HopeQuest. We are nearing completion of this project and are desperate for your prayers. Originally, we purchased this property because it made financial sense in light of the fact that we could pay the mortgage on the ten-acre property with the same funds that we were spending on leased homes in different neighborhoods. Excited about the prospect of owning the ten-acre property (for our future) without additional outgoing cash flow, we moved forward. At that time, we estimated that we would spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $25,000 on the necessary renovations to add a few walls and a couple of bathrooms. It was (and still is) an ideal situation. However, we did not anticipate that Cherokee County would require us to bring the property up to a commercial code standard. Up until this point, we had always dealt with individual residences in residential zones. Having never attempted to remodel one of them (requiring the obtaining of a permit), we did not anticipate that we would be required to change the home to meet a commercial standard. The result is that we have spent almost $230,000 on the required changes to the existing home on the property. Here are some examples of the costs: $18,000 for a larger septic tank, $11,000 for a commercial fire detection system, $16,000 for a commercial fire sprinkler system, $10,000 for a commercial grade fire extinguishing ventilation hood in the kitchen, $10,000 for handicapped access in one of the bathrooms on the main floor, $30,000 for our own fire hydrant on the property, another $30,000 on widening the drive (including the bridge over the creek) to the required 24 feet to accommodate fire truck and equipment - including a 70 foot in diameter turnaround area for the fire truck, and more. The miraculous good news is that we have it all paid for except for $40,000. This is where we need the prayers and financial help of our friends and partners. Also, if you’d like to receive a copy of our new “2008 Mid-Year Ministry Update,” please email your name and address information to me at roy.blankenship@hopequestgroup.org. Know that we are grateful for every prayer and every dollar that has been offered up to help us with this ministry effort. Having just completed our third independently conducted internal audit, I am committed to leading a ministry of financial integrity. If you would like to hear more about our budget and expenditures, let me know that as well. For those who are receiving this email and do not wish to hear from us in this way, notice there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of this ezine. Simply click that link, provide your email address, and follow the instructions. We are allowing you to maintain our subscription list. We never want to be considered as sending out spam. Finally, forward this email to your friends. Invite them to join our subscription list. It is a good way to keep up with what is going in at HopeQuest! Blessings on you! We thank God for you! |
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| This is the original drive entrance. | |
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| They are taking out trees to accomodate the required 24 ft. driveway. | |
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A new culvert was required for the drive over the creek.
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| Contemplating … | |
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| How the drive looks now from the front of the residence. | |
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| This is the required fire truck turnaround - 70 ft. in diameter. | |
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| This view of the house front is prior to driveway grading. | |
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| And this was the original plan for grading out a parking area in front of the house. | |
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| However, we found out that the fire truck turnaround had soft dirt. So, to save $30,000 for hard dirt (I know, it’s hard to believe dirt costs a lot!), we took this dirt from the front of the house. | |
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| And now, it looks like this. | |
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| Another view.Although I don’t have a photo yet, there’s a retaining wall now with a nice slope up to the front of the house. There will soon be junipers! | |
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| This back area hand to be graded as well. The county requires a certain grade for the handicapped parking area we were required to provide. | |
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| The original kitchen. Two stoves! Perfect for a large group of guys in the men’s dorm! | |
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| However, those commercial code requirements at work again! Here they are preparing for the ventilation hood and fire sprinklers. | |
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I’m not sure if you can really note the size of this thing. Take my word for it though - it is huge! This is the fire extinguishing ventilation hood. |
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| Here is the ventilation hood installed.I can’t wait to show you the picture with the stoves back in place. It is actually funny. The hood dwarfs them! | |
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| Here is what the fire sprinkler heads look like. We had to remove all the the interior celing in order to install these things. | |
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| One of three original bonus rooms that we decided to convert to multiple rooms. | |
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| One bonus room turned into three bedrooms! | |
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| And those code requirements again! In Cherokee County, in order to be a bedroom, there must be a window. So, our incredible team installed these two dormer windows. | |
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| This bonus area was just an open space in a hallway to another room. By putting up this wall, we turned it into a nice bedroom area. Note the new window in the back - we hand to replace them because code requires wider windows! | |
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| The original stairway was open with a vaulted ceiling. We enclosed it to make an additional bedroom. | |
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| A view of the back yard area. | |
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| The inlaw suite is attached to the main house. This will be the dwelling for our campus pastor who will also serve as the property manager and Sr. Mentor initially. | |
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| Interior view of the inlaw suite. | |
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| The Cherokee County Zoning Board was gracious to us. However, they do not want us to have animals. So, this will become an outdoor recreation area with bar-b-que grills and outside sitting areas. | |
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| I had no idea what this was. However, Troy immediately recognized it as a batting cage. It will be a great recreational tool for guys. | |
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| One of the work crews. | |
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| Our next project! We plan to convert this garage unit to additional client space | |
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| Having more clients (without increasing our costs) will make us more resource efficient. | |
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| Pray for us - Click here for a list of prayer needs.Make referrals to people who need help with life dominating issues related to alcohol, substance abuse, and sexual brokenness.
Make a financial contribution - Click here. |
Tags: Alcohol Abuse, Christian Counseling and Discipleship, HopeQuest, Residential Recovery Program, Sexual Brokenness, Substance Abuse