2009 Spring Newsletter
Chesterfield’s Winter Warriors
Our old friends (and some new friends) from Chesterfield Presbyterian joined us for the service portion of their Men’s retreat on Saturday January 24th, 2009.
An arctic Saturday morning with temperatures in the teens did nothing to deter these winter warriors from their appointed task: clearing a brush line the length of a small football field.
With frost-numbed knuckles gripping warm chainsaws, our friends helped us prepare for installing a fence behind 5925-27 Etzel Avenue. A few of our friends returned March 14th for another chilly morning of chain sawing.
Cornerstone Partners with Grace Hill
Once again Cornerstone has partnered with Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers to provide another “Lead Safe” building for our families—6010-12 Etzel Avenue.
Grace Hill’s Lead Prevention and Remediation Program receives funding through a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant to evaluate and remediate any potential lead hazards in buildings located in strategically-targeted areas of St. Louis City.
Operating on a primary prevention strategy, Grace Hill identifies pregnant women who live within these “at risk” zip codes and then partners with property owners to create “Lead Safe” environments.
This work usually involves replacing old windows or other interventions such as stabilizing paint surfaces. The work is completed by licensed lead abatement contractors who work in concert with lead risk assessors to reduce environmental hazards. Now in its third year of implementation,Grace Hill hopes to remediate a total of over 900 housing units.
Over the past three years Cornerstone has teamed up with Grace Hill to remediate a total of seven housing units in two buildings. In 2007 Cornerstone received funding to replace the windows in 6006 Washington, and in March Cornerstone began work on 6010-12 Etzel. We are grateful for Grace Hill’s commitment to public health in St. Louis and look forward to working with Grace Hill in the future.
As many of you know from reading the lid of any paint can purchased in the United States, housing built prior to the mid-1970s may contain lead-based paint. Since most of our buildings were built nearly a century ago, our rehab contractors know how important it is to follow lead safe practices as we maintain our buildings.
You can know that Cornerstone takes its responsibility to provide safe and affordable housing quite seriously. Partnering with Grace Hill boosts our ability to upgrade our apartments for the safety and the comfort of our families. And if you’ve ever lived in a home with drafty windows, you know the difference a double-paned, insulated window can make in your heating bill.
Full House
For those who have been marking the progress of 5925-27 Etzel Avenue over the past few newsletters, we are glad to announce that we have a full house. All units are occupied.
Notes on Covenant Legacy
by Matt Kimbrell
Memorial Day weekend 2003 I walked onto Etzel Avenue to start my new job as the latest in a long line of managers for Cornerstone Corporation. I had applied for the position after reading the job description in the “Tucket,” the community newsletter for Grace and Peace Fellowship.
Being a newly-relocated seminarian with a desire to see redemption reach into broken homes and neighborhoods, I signed up for what I thought would be a temporary job, a job that would no doubt give me some valuable ministry exposure and a way to pay for school. But the past six years have given me far more that that. For six years I have been given an exciting front-row seat to the brick and mortar reality of God’s work of restoring that which is broken about our world—both relationally and structurally.
One of the key players in my development as a laborer in the kingdom is Richard Lammers, an eager, energetic example of one who serves without complaining or grumbling—one who labors often without any recognition. For over ten years Richard has faithfully served Cornerstone with his encyclopedic knowledge of property maintenance and his jam-packed van stuffed with tools and As any rehabber knows, the right tool for the job makes all the difference. And there has rarely been a moment where Richard hasn’t said, “I’ve got one of those in my van.”
For six years God has allowed me to be his student not simply in the wily arts of rehabbing old buildings, but more importantly in the compassionate work of caring for families. I am indeed grateful and consider it a great privilege to work with my dear friend Richard. An interesting fun fact: Richard and I are both graduates from Covenant College and Covenant Seminary.
(In November 2008 the Cornerstone Board hosted a dinner in honor of Richard’s many faithful years of service to Cornerstone.)
How can you give to Cornerstone Corporation? Send your tax deductible donation to our office: 6030 Etzel, St. Louis, MO,63112 or call us at 314.726.2273.
Cathajane Rieger, President; Dana Malkus, Vice-President; Jon Easterling, Treasurer; Beth Dodson, Secretary; David Patrick, Aaron Turner, Phyllis Wheeler, Board Members; Matthew Kimbrell, Tenant Relations Manager
Cornerstone Housing Ministry