Windows for the holidays

Bianca had cold hands and feet for a while, sometimes to the point where her extremities, lips, or cheeks were purple or blue. She had (what they thought) was a nagging winter cold. Nothing alarming. Her pediatrician helped to cautiously eliminate the other factors that helped lead them to where they are today. He suggested they get a heart echocardiogram. From there, things moved quickly, as her condition was quite obvious once the doctors had the opportunity to look at her heart, and she was given a diagnosis of restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM).

With this diagnosis, the worst nightmare as parents has come true. Basically, she is in heart failure. The upper chambers of her heart are 3-4x larger than they should be, and her lower chambers do not relax enough to properly pump blood throughout her body. So her blood system is backing up, her other organs are strained, and blood is not quite flowing through her body as it should.

There is no cure. There is no medicine to fix it. There is no simple surgery to repair. The only option they had at this point was to go down the path Bianca’s family had traveled once before: a heart transplant.

The team at Craftsmen Home Improvements is privileged to partner with Richlin Windows to help meet the needs of this wonderful family.

The Dwelling Place is a Christian ministry that provides long-term transitional housing, basic needs, trauma-informed supportive services, educational programs and mentoring for women and their children fleeing domestic violence. The Dwelling Place fulfills the need for healing time and personal development by providing comprehensive programs for 12 months (or longer, if needed), allowing women and children the precious gift of time.

The team at Craftsmen Home Improvements is thankful for the opportunity to install a new roof and new siding on one of the homes at the Dwelling Place.

We were proud to provide all new James Hardie siding and Richlin windows for the Watermark Church HUB building.

We were proud to donate and install new siding and gutters (and one window) to make a beautiful upgrade to the building for Options For Women. 

The Dwelling Place is a Christian ministry that provides long-term transitional housing, basic needs, trauma-informed supportive services, educational programs and mentoring for women and their children fleeing domestic violence. The Dwelling Place fulfills the need for healing time and personal development by providing comprehensive programs for 12 months (or longer, if needed), allowing women and children the precious gift of time.

The team at Craftsmen Home Improvements enjoyed joining forces with Hayfield Richlin Windows to provide much-needed replacement windows at the property.

Camp Nathanael is a non-profit, independent Christian boys’ camp located on a private lake 20 miles east of Hinckley, Minnesota. The camp offers a scenic, safe and rustic setting for a variety of outdoor activities like swimming, sailing, model rockets, woodworking, climbing, mountain biking, shooting, archery, etc. There are also high-energy group games and activities that are suited to boys of all abilities.

The team at Craftsmen Home Improvements enjoyed joining forces with Hayfield Windows to help meet the need of installing new windows at the camp.

At Philomena House, we strive to give women facing unplanned pregnancies a safe home and compassionate alternatives to abortion. All too often, women faced with unplanned or difficult pregnancies feel pressure from the people closest to them to terminate their pregnancy through abortion or face homelessness as their only other option. Philomena House wishes to provide better options and a safe, nurturing place for these women and their babies.

The team at Craftsmen Home Improvements was privileged to partner up with Richlin Windows to help meet the need of this wonderful organization.

The winner of our 2015 Windows for the holidays is a local family.  The mother suffered and fought through cancer.  The family wishes to keep their story private.

The team at Craftsmen Home Improvements was privileged to help meet the need of this wonderful family.

Camp Nathaniel is a non-profit, independent Christian boys’ camp located on a private lake 20 miles east of Hinckley, Minnesota. The camp offers a scenic, safe and rustic setting for a variety of outdoor activities like swimming, sailing, model rockets, woodworking, climbing, mountain biking, shooting, archery, etc. There are also high-energy group games and activities that are suited to boys of all abilities.

The team at Craftsmen Home Improvements enjoyed joining forces with Lindsay Windows to help meet the need of installing new windows at the camp.

Pastor Paul Is the leader of Faith Community World Outreach which meets the spiritual, emotional, social and physical well being of members and visitors, including outreach to the elderly, youth, and others.

The Community is particularly called to serve immigrants and those American families and individuals seeking oneness with others in world community.

The team at Craftsmen Home Improvements enjoyed teaming with Lindsay Windows to help meet the need of installing new windows in his home.

Karen and Kent live in Bloomington and take great pride in their home. Karen has a masters degree and had worked as a planner at Honeywell. In 1982 Karen was diagnosed with MS. Over the course of the next seven years she went from using a cane to a walker and eventually to a wheelchair. For a while she was able to do her work in a scooter but eventually she was forced to leave her job and take disability.

The Saunders looked into getting new windows because their old windows were very drafty and the change in temperature extremes can take a dramatic toll on a person with MS.

After getting estimates they decided they cannot afford new windows due to their fixed income. Craftsmen Home Improvements and Lindsay Windows are excited to partner together to provide the Saunders with new windows for their home.

Reason for Nominating: “My dad is in the group of aging adults that were let go at their job when the recession first hit. He has been unable to secure employment since being laid off 3 years ago. His house is circa 1940’s and all the windows are original. He has barely any money to buy weekly groceries let alone do repairs to his aging house.

I would love to see him stay warm and reduce his energy bills. This would add more money to the pot for monthly bills and would keep him in his house that he loves so dearly. The most important things in life are a roof over your head, food in your belly and family to love.”

Reason for Nominating: The Chaska TreeHouse annually serves more than 130 at-risk adolescents from the Eastern Carver County and Belle Plaine school districts.

When these teens first come to TreeHouse, they suffer from depression, abuse drugs and alcohol, perform poorly in school, engage in risky and self-destructive behaviors and come from families in crisis.

Through TreeHouses’s life-transforming programs, the staff at Chaska helps at-risk teens reduce these behaviors, encourages them to build healthy relationships with self and others, helps them connect to their community, both secular and religious, improves high school graduation rates, and puts them on track for post-secondary education or a vocation.

Last summer, generous donors of materials and labor made possible a major landscaping project. This landscaping makes the facility attractive from the outside; however, the windows in the current facility create high utility costs (taking away funding from programs), and contribute to an environment that is not comfortable, inviting and friendly.

An essential part of TreeHouse programming is creation of a safe haven where teens can share their problems with staff and their peers.

With cold winter air and summer heat and humidity coming through drafty windows, it is difficult to maintain the safe, inviting, comfortable TreeHouse that our at-risk adolescents need. In this current economic environment, fundraising is difficult; many of the funds Chaska TreeHouse depended on are no longer available for building improvements.

New windows would help TreeHouse – Chaska become even more successful.

Teresa and Dean have 14 children, ranging in age from 6-21, 13 of whom joined their family through the blessing of adoption and from the foster care system.  Teresa and Dean are passionate about parenting children who so desperately need a family and home to call their own.  They also realize the importance of keeping sibling groups together.

They welcomed their first child by adoption when he was just 2 months old. They had a biological child a couple of years later.  In 2001, they adopted a sibling group of 4 children who had been in foster care for 7 years.  In 2003, they adopted a sibling group of 3 children who had been in foster care for 3 years.  In 2005, they adopted another sibling group of 5 children who had also been in foster care.  While all of these sibling groups were in foster care, they were separated from each other.  The family lives in an old farmhouse which desperately needs better windows and doors.

Jason and Erika Schlicht were chosen as the giveaway recipients after being nominated here on our website.  Following is the nomination story submitted for the Schlichts:

“Jason Schlicht and his wife, Erika, are one of the humblest young couples that my wife and I know. They are quick to help others in need in whatever way they can. However, they are not ones to ask for help themselves. It isn’t a pride issue; the Schlichts simply do not like burdening anyone.

But the road the Lord has placed them on has had more than its share of sharp turns in the past year or so – some of them thrilling and some of them downright scary. For instance, Jason and Erika have been blessed with the opportunity to adopt not one, but two newborn children, an opportunity they gratefully seized. However, sandwiched between these special moments has been the discovery of a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer in Erika, a diagnosis resulting in months of chemotherapy and radiation that will continue into the spring of 2009. Needless to say, all three of these life-changing events have had a significant financial impact on the Schlichts, who — it should be noted — are a single-income family. (Erika gave up a very promising career as an engineer to raise their children, Ellie and Jacob). Indeed, the Schlichts’ home has been warmed immensely by the joyful, blessed presence of Ellie and Jacob. Unfortunately, much of that “heat” has been lost through their home’s aging, poorly constructed windows, which I estimate to be at least 25 years old. The windows are in desperate need of replacement.

Yet, this need comes at a time when Jason and Erika simply cannot afford it. I nominate the Schlichts for your Windows for the Holiday’s promotion because they are the most deserving family I know and because they will be the most grateful family you’ll ever meet should they be selected.”