Everyone,
Saturday, January 13th 2001 was a day I'll never forget. That day while
snow skiing on Mt. Hood, I had an unremarkable accident which left me a c5-6
complete quadriplegic. Which means I have no feeling or function below my
chest.
Just after I was released from the ICU, I received a visit from Steve
McCracken our church's pastor. When he was leaving he asked us if there was
anything he could do for us. I (while heavily sedated & still very out of
awareness) asked him to check into HFH (Habitat For Humanity). I feel that God
had spoken through me, as I had no real idea of what HFH was, or did. He
checked into it for us & put us in touch with the right people. We we're
interviewed & approved for their housing program in June of 2001. We we're
scheduled to begin construction on a two level home located in Tigard, Or.
sometime in the Fall of 2002. We we're thrilled with the prospect of becoming
homeowners, but concerned that a two level home would not be feasible with me
being in a powered wheelchair, as I could only access the bottom level of our
home. As it turned out HFH had a homeowner that defaulted on their contract &
had their home reclaimed. It was a single level 4 bedroom, 1 bath, 1,100 sq.
ft. home in Aloha, Or. They asked us (another of God's interventions I
believe) if we would rather remodel this single level home or wait & build the
two level home later. We opted for the remodel & with the help of family &
friends we broke HFH records for sweat equity hours put in, with over 1,100
hours logged. In December 2001, almost 11 months to the day of the accident,
we were presented with the keys to our home & a future of financial security.
As a family that has received one of these affordable houses from HFH, it
is hard to repay them for their willingness to take a chance on you. When I
was approached by my cousin and former working partner Don Davis to partner
with him again, I was thrilled. This time in a fundraising effort, to give
something back to HFH. He has dedicated himself to run & finish the Portland
Marathon, on October 7th 2007. My part is to help raise funds for HFH of
Oregon. Don has always inspired me to be a better man, he's an excellent boss,
worker, family man and friend. To know that I could inspire him to run 26
miles for this cause makes me feel proud.
Here's how you can help, just click on the link below to be taken to a safe
& secure donation page. You can donate as little or as much as you like, they
even make it easy by accepting Visa, MasterCard & American Express as payment
options. Please support this cause and forward this on to all your e-mail
contacts, HFH is an organization that works miracles in families lives. They
did in ours.
http://www.active.com/donate/HabitatOregon/teamd2<http://www.active.com/donate/HabitatOregon/teamd2>
Sincerely,
Derek Dietz
