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| Rhoads Family - Colleen Cummings A-P |
Whilst Christmas 2008 is not looked back on with undiluted pleasure, Christmas 2009 is a bright Christmas moment long remembered fondly.
Am re-printing the story of that Christmas, as it appeared in local paper on Christmas morning. The Rhoads family have gone on to greater things. James, the father was taught the trade of 'property management' by the old geezer and has gone on to help owners with troubled properties get turned round. Last checked the family was doing well.
Christmas miracle for family in Linda
December 25, 2009 12:32:50 AM
Nearly a year ago, James Rhoads started a business of reselling items from storage units where renters had fallen behind on payments.
People sometimes pleaded with him for items they'd left behind; often, other than for personal items, they were out of luck.
But after the contents of his own storage unit was sold, and his family of six had to sleep at friends' houses or sometimes a 1996 Plymouth Voyager, he's gotten a new perspective.
"Everybody out there, they aren't really that bad of people," said Rhoads, 34, adding he hasn't always felt that way. "There are bad seeds out there, but the majority of them are good."
The reason the out-of-work cement mason has a better outlook these days has to do with what's happened to his family in the last two weeks — going from a Christmas with little hope to what his wife Chandra Rhoads calls the best one she's ever had.
In a modest Linda apartment, the family has furniture, bedding, food and $500 worth of Christmas gifts. All of it donated, including the unit where they live.
The Rhoads' journey started as the economy tanked in the last few years. James Rhoads went from making $4,200 a month and planning to buy a home for his wife and their four children to being out of work so long he can't even take advantage of the unemployment benefit extensions recently approved.
Short of money, the family left a rented home in Linda a few months ago where the electricity had been shut off and a ceiling had collapsed, and headed for Oregon, where they thought a new home awaited them.
When that fell through a month ago, the couple and their four children — Jamie Rhoads, 12; Alex Gomes, 9; Haley Rhoads, 5; and Jimmy Rhoads III, 3 — piled into the van and drove back to Yuba County for what they believed would be a temporary stay at a friend's home.
It was temporary. But for two weeks, as James said he searched for an apartment he could move his family into, he began to fear living in the van would be more permanent.
Because the family had only Aid to Families with Dependent Children for income, they couldn't afford the normal rental requirements for an apartment. And other apartment managers wouldn't take in a family that big for relatively small quarters.
When he approached the managers at Linda Villa Apartments in Linda earlier this month, James Rhoads said he'd decided honesty was the best policy.
"I was discouraged," he said. "So I just put my story out there."
Rob DeFrees, who works with Linda Villa's managers, said Rhoads' story struck a chord.
"I looked him in the eye and thought, 'If ever there was a situation where I should trust my gut, this is the time,'" DeFrees said. He agreed to let the family rent an apartment on a voucher for homeless families.
But after losing the storage unit's contents, the Rhoads had little which with to fill the apartment.
"As far as Christmas, we were kind of thinking we weren't going to have one," said Chandra, 31.
DeFrees wrote a story about the family on his blog, and published it Dec. 13. Doing so proved to be a snowball thrown down the side of a mountain, the result being an avalanche of generosity.
People began sending DeFrees e-mail messages: What can I do?
"I wanted to believe if people had the opportunity to help on a personal level, they would," DeFrees said. "I'm just overwhelmed at it all."
One person who responded was a woman named Bonnie, who thought at least she could bring over blankets and other bedding. Then she saw how little the family had.
She made phone calls, sent e-mails. More offers of help came in. Bonnie, who declined to allow her last name to be published, said she thinks being able to do something small for someone resonated with people.
Many of her fellow parishioners at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church helped, as did the Yuba County Sheriff's Department, Supervisor Andy Vasquez and a furniture store.
Those who contributed had two things in common: They wanted to help, and they didn't want credit.
James Rhoads beamed earlier this week as Alex and Haley zipped around the apartment complex's parking lot on donated bikes.
"I like my beds, and I like my new bike," Alex said, pedaling just behind his parents as they walked. Alex mentioned his brother's birthday was Christmas Eve.
"Then we get a lot of treats," he said, to laughter from James and Chandra.
"I used to think less of people who were bad off," Rhoads said. "Now I think, I've been there."
In exchange for a break on rent, Rhoads has been hired as a maintenance man at the complex, and other part-time jobs will start soon. He's hoping to stay long enough to earn money toward a more permanent place.
The family is also planning its own giving back, starting by taking extra sleeping bags and blankets to the homeless.
When she talks about what's happened, Chandra Rhoads stops in the middle of her sentence.
"It's going to be awesome," she said of today's celebration, her eyes welling with tears.
People sometimes pleaded with him for items they'd left behind; often, other than for personal items, they were out of luck.
But after the contents of his own storage unit was sold, and his family of six had to sleep at friends' houses or sometimes a 1996 Plymouth Voyager, he's gotten a new perspective.
"Everybody out there, they aren't really that bad of people," said Rhoads, 34, adding he hasn't always felt that way. "There are bad seeds out there, but the majority of them are good."
The reason the out-of-work cement mason has a better outlook these days has to do with what's happened to his family in the last two weeks — going from a Christmas with little hope to what his wife Chandra Rhoads calls the best one she's ever had.
In a modest Linda apartment, the family has furniture, bedding, food and $500 worth of Christmas gifts. All of it donated, including the unit where they live.
The Rhoads' journey started as the economy tanked in the last few years. James Rhoads went from making $4,200 a month and planning to buy a home for his wife and their four children to being out of work so long he can't even take advantage of the unemployment benefit extensions recently approved.
Short of money, the family left a rented home in Linda a few months ago where the electricity had been shut off and a ceiling had collapsed, and headed for Oregon, where they thought a new home awaited them.
When that fell through a month ago, the couple and their four children — Jamie Rhoads, 12; Alex Gomes, 9; Haley Rhoads, 5; and Jimmy Rhoads III, 3 — piled into the van and drove back to Yuba County for what they believed would be a temporary stay at a friend's home.
It was temporary. But for two weeks, as James said he searched for an apartment he could move his family into, he began to fear living in the van would be more permanent.
Because the family had only Aid to Families with Dependent Children for income, they couldn't afford the normal rental requirements for an apartment. And other apartment managers wouldn't take in a family that big for relatively small quarters.
When he approached the managers at Linda Villa Apartments in Linda earlier this month, James Rhoads said he'd decided honesty was the best policy.
"I was discouraged," he said. "So I just put my story out there."
Rob DeFrees, who works with Linda Villa's managers, said Rhoads' story struck a chord.
"I looked him in the eye and thought, 'If ever there was a situation where I should trust my gut, this is the time,'" DeFrees said. He agreed to let the family rent an apartment on a voucher for homeless families.
But after losing the storage unit's contents, the Rhoads had little which with to fill the apartment.
"As far as Christmas, we were kind of thinking we weren't going to have one," said Chandra, 31.
DeFrees wrote a story about the family on his blog, and published it Dec. 13. Doing so proved to be a snowball thrown down the side of a mountain, the result being an avalanche of generosity.
People began sending DeFrees e-mail messages: What can I do?
"I wanted to believe if people had the opportunity to help on a personal level, they would," DeFrees said. "I'm just overwhelmed at it all."
One person who responded was a woman named Bonnie, who thought at least she could bring over blankets and other bedding. Then she saw how little the family had.
She made phone calls, sent e-mails. More offers of help came in. Bonnie, who declined to allow her last name to be published, said she thinks being able to do something small for someone resonated with people.
Many of her fellow parishioners at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church helped, as did the Yuba County Sheriff's Department, Supervisor Andy Vasquez and a furniture store.
Those who contributed had two things in common: They wanted to help, and they didn't want credit.
James Rhoads beamed earlier this week as Alex and Haley zipped around the apartment complex's parking lot on donated bikes.
"I like my beds, and I like my new bike," Alex said, pedaling just behind his parents as they walked. Alex mentioned his brother's birthday was Christmas Eve.
"Then we get a lot of treats," he said, to laughter from James and Chandra.
"I used to think less of people who were bad off," Rhoads said. "Now I think, I've been there."
In exchange for a break on rent, Rhoads has been hired as a maintenance man at the complex, and other part-time jobs will start soon. He's hoping to stay long enough to earn money toward a more permanent place.
The family is also planning its own giving back, starting by taking extra sleeping bags and blankets to the homeless.
When she talks about what's happened, Chandra Rhoads stops in the middle of her sentence.
"It's going to be awesome," she said of today's celebration, her eyes welling with tears.
It may be a small blog, but this old geezer reaches out to many, many kind folks with hearts as big as Texas. When you ask if you can make a difference, just remember the lesson of this story. One person has the power to change lives, a small change that leads to bigger changes.
Christmas, it is all about the giving and not the getting......
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