As I thought about this past year and how I would describe it to you this evening, two different things came to mind...my English lit class from high school and Confucius. I will say that again, as I thought about this past year and how I would describe it to you this evening two different things came to mind...my English lit class from high school and Confucius. In my English lit class, we read the classic Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities. Now I will be honest and say I have vague recollections about the story. I know it is set in the time of the French Revolution. While I am being honest, it is very likely that I may have purchased the Cliff Notes for the novel as well. What I do clearly remember is how the book begins. The very first sentence is as follows; "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." At the time, I liked the languag; but, I remember thinking to myself how can it be both the best and worst of times simultaneously.
Well, 2009 for us at Beyond Housing certainly can be described as living through the best and worst of times. This year brought us a terrible recession with dramatic job losses and all the damage it creates for families and communities. Our families living in our rental units have struggled to stay employed, pay their rent and care for their children. Families all throughout the region from the City of St. Peters to St. Louis Avenue continue to battle the nightmare of foreclosure on a daily basis. Food pantries throughout the region have seen incredible spikes in the need for their services. Poverty's hold on so many families in the region has gotten stronger and many for the first time feel the unrelenting stress of not having enough to make ends meet. There are more people in the region that need our help, for simply every program we run. Our resources are certainly limited. For many of the families we serve, it truly has been the worst of times.
Even through the season of darkness, this winter of despair, thanks to so many of you in this room and many others that are not here tonight we have accomplished some truly amazing things. Our 34 year journey of strengthening neighborhoods, one family at a time continued at a record pace. 2009 was the year we affirmed our vision to alleviate the consequences of poverty in the families and communities we serve. Earlier this week, continuing our long partnership with the St. Louis Equity Fund and our new partner EM Harris Construction, we broke ground on 37 new homes in Hillsdale continuing our strategic push into the Normandy School District geography. This will certainly bring a little light to those three abandoned blocks and make a very bright light shine for those 37 families with 100 children who will live there by the end of 2010. We have never built more homes in one year than this. It kinda feels like the best of times. In the last 90 days we have purchased 25 foreclosed properties in the Normandy School District geography and have begun the rehab on many of them with the end goal to add them to our existing rental portfolio of over 240 existing homes - not including the 37 in Hillsdale. We have never rehabbed that many homes in one year. It does feel a little hopeful. During this time of despair we have also brought hope to over 1,000, that's right I said over 1,000 families who participated in our first time homebuyers program. These families thirst for the knowledge to be successful homeowners in these troubling times. We have never helped this many people in one year and we went to the closing table with almost 200 of these families providing down payment assistance and helped them purchase homes valued at greater than $16 million. Seems like a reason to be hopeful. While the foreclosure problems continues to bring despair to so many families we have counseled over 900 homeowners to help keep them in their homes, again our best year ever. If times were not so tough, I just might say it was the best of times.
Oh, in case you have not heard we just broke ground on a new Save-A-Lot grocery store in the City of Pagedale and officially invite all of you to the grand opening in June 2010. My friends of BSI Constructors are going to grow weary of me driving by the site daily, or maybe hourly.
This exciting project will certainly bring a spring of hope to the people of Pagedale and the surrounding communities. What we have tried to do in these challenging times, this season of despair is tackle all of our work with the spirit of Dr. King's famous words to, "make every valley exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places made straight". We want it to be the best of times for all the families, all the children and all the communities we serve.
Now for Confucius… the saying, "every journey begins with one step" is attributed to our man Confucius. As I thought about this year and our work I envisioned a stretch of a long highway with the horizon line too far in the distance to clearly see. I can see the horizon line -I just can't make out the details just yet. It made me think of my friend Mayor Mary Carter of Pagedale and the journey her city has been on for some time. There may have been some valleys, some mountains to climb, some rough places, some crooked places but Mayor Carter and all the leaders of Pagedale did not waver. They did not stop, they moved forward and their journey continues today. I cannot wait to see the horizon line become clearer for the City of Pagedale.
The journey for Anne M., one of our service-enriched rental housing program participants, has not been easy. She could have said I cannot take one more step for the valley is too low, the mountain too high, the place too rough and crooked. I am so proud to say her journey continues and judging by her enthusiasm the horizon line is going to get here sooner than later. As I enter my 17th year at the great place we call Beyond Housing I am just as excited about my journey as I was on September 20, 1993 when I walked in the door for the first time.
Just as all those families who aspire for their piece of the American dream are on their journey, Beyond Housing continues on its path. Just as all those families hope desperately to not lose their homes to foreclosure are on their journey, Beyond Housing continues on our path. The journey in this life starts with one step but we hope for so many we serve that the steps are a little easier and the path not littered with potholes. And while despair and darkness will indeed happen from time to time it is our hope, my hope, that we can continue to create the best of times for all we serve.
Our journey is poised to take a significant move forward in 2010 and the years beyond. Tonight, as an affirmation of great support from partners like all of you here tonight, and the work of the board and staff, we have three significant grant announcements to make.
An anonymous foundation has made a $275,000 commitment to fund the expansion of our service delivery in our rental housing program, create commercial and residential real estate development capacity in our Normandy School District work and to fund the debt service for three years on one of the loans for the grocery store development.
The Horncrest Foundation gave us a $500,000 endowment to continue our creation of universal design housing.
Lastly, an anonymous foundation has made a five year $2.5 million commitment to fund a new community building division in the organization, to truly carry out our Normandy School District strategy. This commitment will give us the capacity to deliver programs, evaluate the work, raise the needed funds to carry out the work and support the school district’s capacity to partner with us. We will truly be leaders in this field and be part of a systemic change all across the country in how we do this work and alleviate the consequences of poverty!
Let’s raise our glasses and toast this momentous occasion!