New Hope at Park Lake

Reaching out, and putting this out there as a dear family in my life needs some ‘New Hope.’ This family once ran a very successful greenhouse in Barons, Alberta and after relocating to Park Lake in 2000 the contractor they hired declared bankruptcy and took several thousands of dollars. This family has never been able to recover as they had taken out an additional mortgage to relocate to Park Lake. 

If you've ever driven by Park Lake and wondered about the story behind the abandoned-looking red barn with a greenhouse attached, then that's it.  I even wondered what the story was when I first saw it too and it saddened me. 

I met this incredible family 7 years ago after going into the flower shop owned by the mom to buy a birthday bouquet for a family I supported as their son had Autism. We instantly connected, as the oldest son of this family is also diagnosed with Autism. As we chatted, we both identified the gap in our society where individuals with disabilities are unable to find meaningful employment and began looking into how we could revive the greenhouse to create opportunities for these individuals.

We launched a Go Fund Me a few years ago and were unsuccessful.  Life slipped away from us, and the mom continued to work two jobs to ensure the mortgage was paid to hold on to the property as she continued to have hope to fulfill this dream, but it wasn’t until she was injured at her second job that things began to fall apart.

When the pandemic hit, the family fell behind on payments and their accounts were frozen. Their oldest daughter took out a personal loan to catch up on mortgage payments, but the bank would not accept. Shortly after they received a notice on the foreclosure of their property. For the last year they have been fighting to find a solution and anyone we’ve connected with for direction don’t understand why the bank is doing this either. We have met with other banks, private lenders, you name it, and have been unsuccessful as no one will look at the mom as her line of credit is shot from what the bank did. Also, sadly her adult children are in their young 20’s and do not have enough credit built up to be able to co-sign at this time. 

This past Fall, after meeting with a few business professionals in our community it was suggested that I apply to the Agility Program through the University of Lethbridge to continue to try and make this dream a reality. Although successful through the first part of the program to layout the business idea, I put my participation on hold in hopes of focusing on securing the family’s property. My goal is to return in May to complete the other half of the program after we have secured the property. 
 
Yes, we should have started this Go Fund Me earlier, but we did not want to have to go to this extent and now we’re putting this out to the universe to see what will happen. The family has until April 27th to come up with the money to stop the foreclosure from happening. The original foreclosure date was February 27 but together the family pooled together money to hire a lawyer for an extension for one last shot. Time is running out and we can’t lose this property as it will provide so much opportunity to our community as we still have hope and refuse to give up. There are too many individuals in our community that could benefit from this greenhouse.

Our goal is to design the greenhouse to produce organically grown local produce and succulents, a coffee house and/or restaurant, and a place to connect, take workshops, and ultimately escape from the urban life of Lethbridge into a one-of-a-kind rural experience out near Park Lake, Alberta all while employing individuals with disabilities who cannot find meaningful and inclusive employment. We want to mentor these incredible individuals to provide them with the hands on training that will build their confidence. This will allow them to gain the experience and skills to be transferable elsewhere in the community. And our vision does not stop there, as we want to extend our support to other employers in our community on how to hire and support individuals with varying disabilities to be successful in the workplace. 

Now, you're probably asking where we got the name from? Well, that was from the oldest son with Autism. He was sitting in the kitchen one day with his mom and together they were brainstorming a name. He looked out at the greenhouse and said 'New Hope.' As he wants this greenhouse to become a place of 'New Hope' for individuals like him as he has struggled to work for an employer that sees the value and abilities we see in him. 

If you've made it this far, then we thank you graciously! We don't expect everyone to donate, but if you can share our story, we'd appreciate it immensely. PLEASE reach out if you have any questions! We did our best to keep this story short, as there are more details to spare over this 20+ year journey but our hope is that this Go Fund Me will align us with the support we need. 

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