I’ll be home for Christmas

Bing Crosby first sang “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” in 1943, but the lyric is quite fitting for Jared and Maggie Masker, with children Maddax and Jay, who are home in their new house for Christmas.

The Maskers’ previous home was completely destroyed in the storm.

Jared, a volunteer firefighter, was out storm spotting as a Greenfield volunteer firefighter when the tornado hit. Maggie was still at work and Maddax, their only child at the time, was still at daycare.

The family received a considerable gift recently when a home was built especially for them by “One Family, One Purpose” Ministries. The group’s website says they are a “Christ-centered non-profit organization committed to connecting willing hearts with individuals in need.”

The Maskers struggled to find words upon first entering their new home Thursday, Dec. 12, built just for them.

“It’s truly life-changing what this has done for us. That’s truly all I can say is that it has been life-changing,” Jared said. “It was more than we ever expected. You kind of have a vision in your mind a little bit, but when we walked in, it truly blew that out of the water.”

“It was way more than we could have ever imagined,” Maggie added. “This house is amazing. It’s more than we could have ever imagined or ever asked for.”

Their favorite room? Maddax’s bedroom, fittingly painted pink. Her first and middle name, “Maddax Vee,” painted in white in her closet. Vee is a nod to Maggie’s grandmother Velma’s name.

The Maskers had a modular home on order but were able to pull out of that agreement after Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Jeremy Cooper told them about this ministry that wanted to come build a home for someone in Greenfield. They gave their floor plan to “One Family, One Purpose” and it was close enough to the homes they have built before that only slight modifications had to be made.

The kicker of the larger plot is that the three-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, approximately 1,600 square-foot home was built over a time period of only two weeks. Only the pouring of the foundation happened before the rest of the work commenced right after Thanksgiving.

Joel Griner, a retired middle school science teacher at East Mills, serves on the “One Family, One Purpose” board of directors and was one of the point people on the Maskers’ build. The ministry began helping people after the Joplin, Missouri tornado in 2011.

“Some of the guys who are involved went down to help with that tornado and came back and had this idea that they thought they could do more for somebody,” Griner said. “They decided they could build a house. We’ve built one house every year since then for someone who has lost a home because of a disaster, whether that’s a tornado, fire or flood, in nine states.”

Fifteen homes have now been built by the Le Harpe, Illinois-based ministry. The Maskers are the sixth Iowa family to benefit from its help. The ministry brings in volunteers from many states.

The ministry believes it is not just the dedication of volunteers that precipitates a like this.

“We’re all volunteers. We’re all serving God trying to help someone in a situation that none of us would like to be in,” Griner said. “We do a lot of prayer and a lot of donations and things. We have one guy who acts as a general foreman. He makes sure things are there when they need to be there because we have to have it in a timely fashion so work can go on. It’s usually about two weeks. We’re getting faster at it as we go.”

Griner said he’s never had a home given to him, so he doesn’t know what that feels like. For those who work, it makes them feel “awfully good.”

“It makes us feel awfully good to know that if Jesus Christ was here with us, He would be there with a hammer in His hand too, helping out,” Griner said.

Jared is an Atlantic native while Maggie is originally from Griswold. They moved to Greenfield in 2013. Jared is Director of Electric Services at the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities while Maggie is the Branch Operations Assistant at Iowa State Savings Bank in Creston.

Jared said he wants to pay forward the blessing his family has received with this home. He helped frame the house and set trusses, so he was able to talk to volunteers along the way. When work moved inside, the ministry took over operations completely.

“It’s too good of a blessing to not pay it forward to somebody else,” he said. “To have Christmas at home, it’s all about Jesus and His birth. We have to keep our eyes fixed on Him and He will bless us. To be able to celebrate His birth at home, it’s a Christmas we’ll never forget. That’s for sure.”