A walk through the Chastain-Brown House, located on Rockhill Road in Aubrey, reveals a warm, quaint and comfortable home, decorated with antique furniture and outfitted with all the modern amenities.
Biblical relics hang on the walls and rest on end tables, reminding those who stay in the house why they are there: to learn to trust in the Lord.
The Chastain-Brown House is the cornerstone of the Healing Hand-up Ministries, a non-profit organization that offers temporary housing and spiritual guidance to individuals and families who have fallen on hard times.
“I wanted it to be a home that created hope,” said Cheryl Bland, who co-founded Healing Hand-up Ministries with her husband, Randy, in March of 2010.
The Healing Hand-up Ministries were founded when the Blands noticed an influx of once steady and stable families turning to their churches for assistance that just was not available.
“People were stable and then the economy hit. Suddenly, overnight they were unstable,” said Bland. “They just had nowhere to go. Most of them weren’t looking to get on government subsistence. They wanted to get back on their feet.”
“We’ve seen so many times in churches where they may actually have someone in their congregation that is struggling,” said Mr. Bland. “Well, the churches are struggling too. When families are struggling they do too. No single church had a place for people.”
The Blands purchased the home on Rockhill Road in April of 2010 with the intent of creating that place.
By using donations coupled with their own money, the Blands spent two years renovating the house, which was once in danger of being condemned. They relied on Mr. Bland’s professional remodeling background to raise ceilings, replace walls, rebuild floors and insulate the entire home. They added central heating and air, a washer and dryer, new cabinets and appliances and decorated the house with donated furnishings from local organizations.
Completed in May of this year, the house serves as the setting for the Blands to offer counseling and assistance to families and individuals in a transitional point in their lives due to a sudden job loss, divorce, unforeseen medical expense or the like.
“We feel like the house is a visual of how it’s beautiful but came from something very not beautiful, not sanitary,” said Bland. “We want people to kind of take that as a visual hope of their own lives that wherever they are now is not where they’re going to be. They can look forward.”
The Blands’ goal is not to provide people with free handouts, but rather to offer a helpful hand-up for people who are looking to rebuild a stronger foundation for their lives.
“The whole idea of the ministry is it’s a healing hand-up,” said Cheryl. “We really wanted people to recognize that this isn’t temporary, this is a lifestyle of trusting in God.
“We would never want someone to leave that had become codependent. That’s why we really want them to buy into the ministry and realize that God is the one that’s going to provide, not us.”
The Blands offer the house rent-free to its inhabitants. They also provide food and pay for the cost of utilities. The family is asked to provide the ministry with a donation based on a sliding scale of how much they can afford.
“We want them to have some ownership of the program, so we don’t want everything so free that they’re not owning the change,” explained Bland. “I think a lot of programs just go from one free thing to another, but that’s really not what we’re trying to do here. Whenever a family leaves, they have more tools than they came with, not just free rent for three months.”
Aside from offering shelter to those who need it, the Blands’ other function is to offer the tools families need to build better lives. They help tenants build new financial plans, they help them network to find jobs and they provide Biblical wisdom to encourage families to look forward to the future.
Derek and Jennifer currently reside in the Chastain-Brown house with their two daughters, ages 5 and 9. They are the second family that has taken up residence in the home since it opened in May.
Derek and his family found themselves in need of help after they relocated to Aubrey after leaving a job managing a ranch in East Texas.
“Our boss was selling the ranch and going in a direction we weren’t wanting to go,” said Derek. “We were just looking to make a change and to come to this area because all of our family’s here.”
Between a lack of nearby jobs, a shortage of affordable rental housing and mounting medical bills for their oldest daughter, Derek and Jennifer were in a tight spot financially. Driving through Aubrey, Derek spotted the Chastain-Brown House and got in contact with the Blands.
“I just happened to pass that little house there. I thought this might be an opportunity for us to find some low-cost housing while we’re in a transitional point in our lives,” said Derek. “We’re not destitute and we’ve got places we can go, but it would be good if we had a little bit of that breathing room.”
Derek and his family have been living in the house for around a month, and say they couldn’t be more grateful to the Blands.
“The house itself is great. It’s modest as far as size but very quaint and homely,” said Derek. “The Blands have been great. They have really opened their doors and arms up to us and we sort of feel like family already. We couldn’t have asked for anything more from Randy and Cheryl.”
The Blands know firsthand what it’s like to be in Derek and Jennifer’s shoes.
“We’ve kind of been through the process our families are going through. We went through about a year of looking for work for Randy,” said Bland. “He had his own company when the economy took a dive and it took a pretty big toll.”
The Blands learned from the experience and now bring the wisdom they gained to people like Derek and Jennifer.
“It was good to have kind of a mentor figure to lean on that has kind of been where we are,” said Derek.
The next step for the Blands is working on a future development in the Red River foothills called Rapha Ridge. The Blands hope to build two or three small cabins on the property, which can be used both as temporary housing and as a place of peace and respite for church volunteers.
“‘Rapha’ means ‘God, our healer,’” said Bland. “The setting itself will be very healing and tranquil.”
While construction on Rapha Ridge begins, the Blands will continue to focus their efforts on helping one family at a time.
“Ultimately, we believe it’s Christ that gives that provision and the strength. We’re just kind of a funnel,” said Bland. “Things don’t always turn around overnight but they will turn around.”
While the Blands are certainly charitable people, Bland stops short from calling the organization a charity.
“In the old days, all of the farmers helped one farmer raise a barn. That’s [how] I look at this: this is a barn raising,” she said. “To me it’s not charity. It’s just the way it was supposed to be in the beginning. All of us just lend a hand to each other.”
This article originally appeared in the Pilot Point Post-Signal.
Heather Michelle Tipton 