WCCC Article of the Month

By the time you read this article I will be unpacking all the boxes that I had painstakingly packed as I write this article. The Stamper family is on the move!! WE are taking 10 years of “stuff”, furniture, three sons, a grumpy husband, the infamous “guard” kitty and the “run-up stairs-and-hide-under-the-bed-dog” Capone to a house at the other end of the ‘hood.

Briefly, we are a victim of the subprime mortgage foreclosure crisis that has erupted across the country which leaves mostly low-income families almost homeless overnight.

Neighborhoods like ours have been the perfect target for predatory lenders and subprime mortgages which are usually called Adjustable Rate Mortgages that can double your payment within one month. Ours is a long, sad, old story about corporate greed, foreign companies, no ethics and little or no laws on the side of the “little guy.” So after 10 years of owning our own home, a place we raised our children and hoped to grow old in, we have lost that home!

This situation must be examined to determine how the residents of West Central can prevent or survive a foreclosure. I could teach a seminar on the subject but there is one aspect of this whole experience that I want to share - the importance of community.

I fought for over a year to keep our house. One by one, all the programs out there to help, fell by the wayside. Sometimes an agency did not have funding or I did not meet the parameters required to qualify. Most often, especially when it came to the law and my rights, I discovered there was nothing in place at all.

I have to say that the only reason I have a place to move to, the help moving and help for the cost of moving is because of the West Central community. I have always worked hard in this neighborhood because I love it and I enjoy the work. I love the people of West Central. You are all a very special kind of folk. Many have stepped out to help my family in this awful circumstance.

What I am trying to say is that this is how an effective community survives. We all take care of each other. People in this neighborhood look to each other and to the places we have like the west Central Community center, C.O.P.S. West, Our Place, Salem Lutheran and the other churches, Holmes Elementary to take care of our families.

When trouble came, it was not the state, the federal government or any other kind of Agency - - except for SNAP that was there to catch my fall. It was the people of West Central - organized by our own - the community center, churches, a local real estate agent, the elementary school and my friends and neighbors that were there for me.

We need to keep our community strong. All of us have to play a part in this. Right now C.O.P.S. West could really use “a few good neighbors!” It does not even have to take a lot of your time. In return, you become a part of a neighborhood family and you have the pleasure of helping your friends and community members when they are in trouble. And, when trouble comes knocking on your door you have the comfort of knowing you are not alone. Even more - you have folks that will step into the breach and help you fight the good fight and them make sure you have a place to rest when the heartbreak comes.

Never underestimate the power of the common folk. We are survivors - all of us in West Central. The big, wealthy corporations may take our houses from us but they can’t take our homes.

Become a part of the West Central family Start by helping out the cop Shop and volunteering there when you can. Applications are available at the shop at 1901 W. Boone. Call 625-3340 to check the hours as we cannot stay open as long as we would like because of a shortage of volunteers. We are all one big family and we want you to be a part of us!