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There is a dead limb hanging over our barn at River Rose. It is large and heavy, and if it comes down the wrong way, it will take down the power line.

When I look at that limb, I think about Christopher.

Christopher is the person we trust to bring it down.

He came to us about two years ago. His mother was an addict when he was born. He had a tracheotomy as an infant, that is why his voice is raspy when you meet him. The household he grew up in was abusive. By the time he was an adult, he had a record, an addiction, and the kind of work history that makes employers stop returning calls. He had done some logging out in the Northwest, but mostly he had been moving from one $12-an-hour job to the next, never quite able to get his footing.

We started him on basic labor. Then we let him borrow our equipment. Then we paid him $20 an hour. Now $40.

Today, Christopher owns his own pickup truck. He owns his own riding lawnmower, his own chainsaws, his own weed eaters, his own trailer. He has started his own small business. And he is the person on this property we trust with a chainsaw, twenty feet up, working on a limb that could hurt someone if it came down the wrong way.

None of that happened because someone wrote him a check. It happened because week after week, through the setbacks and the relapses and the hard months, someone gave him work, trust, and consistency.

That is what River Rose is built around. We don't hand out money. We hand out a chance to show up tomorrow.

What we need this month

As I walked the property this week, I made a list. The spring rain has been a blessing, everything is growing, but it has put us behind on cutting eight acres of grass, and our equipment has not held up:

  • Replacement shaft for the bush hog (bent last year) — $280
  • Repair on the zero-turn mower (suspected vapor lock) — about $250
  • General upkeep: fuel, blades, parts for spring and summer — about $1,500 a month

These are not just maintenance items. Every hour of equipment running is an hour of paid work for someone who is rebuilding a life.

Take a few minutes to watch this video update: A Normal Day

Thank you for being part of what happens here. The dead limb came down safely, and Christopher gave me a high five. That sentence exists because of people like you.

Rex

P.S. If you'd like to come out and walk the property sometime, I would love that. The story is easier to feel in person than to read on a screen.