By Dedra Cordle
Staff Writer
A mission is underway to build Courtney Donaldson, 27, a home that is handicap accessible. Donaldson, a Westside native who has cerebral palsy, says she has never lived in a place that has been suited for her needs and she hopes the fundraiser/Bike-A-Thon that her church, Bible Truth Tabernacle, is doing will give her the independence she desires.
The prospect of undertaking a home decorating project can bring a frown to the faces of most individuals, but Courtney Donaldson is all smiles when she talks about how she would like the interior of her future home to look.
“My bedroom, the living room and the dining room will all be rustic while the bathroom and the kitchen will be retro vintage,” she says with a grin that only gets larger when her grandmother voices her distaste for the retro aesthetic.
“She likes to joke that she would not want to live in a retro house for the rest of her life,” Courtney explains.
“I’m not joking,” says Esther Donaldson. “I’m not a retro person.”
After teasing her grandmother about changing the rustic portions of the house and going full retro, Courtney promises that she will throw some modern looks into the fray.
“I’ll mix it up a bit,” she says. “But just a little.”
For years, Courtney has been dreaming about this – living in a new home where she is able to decorate her own bedroom, enjoy a beautiful bathroom and hone her cooking skills in a cool kitchen that is equipped for her needs. Unfortunately, her reality has not always matched up with her dreams.
Courtney was born three months premature, weighing only 1 pound, 8 ounces. Her first few months of life where spent in the hospital with health related issues and a diagnosis of cerebral palsy came soon after her hard fought release.
For much of her life, Courtney has been using a wheelchair, and for much of her life she has been living in homes that are ill-suited for her needs.
“I don’t think I’ve ever lived in a handicap accessible home,” she said.
Currently, she shares a two-story home with her grandparents that has no bedroom or bathroom on the first floor.
“I sleep on the couch so I really don’t have a bedroom and there’s a portable in the kitchen and that is how I go to the restroom,” she said.
Courtney said it’s not all bad since the couch is pretty comfortable and she has a screen for the kitchen but what she does dislike is sharing space with her grandparents’ parakeet Baby.
“He’s pretty noisy, especially at dark,” she said with a laugh.
Even though she makes the best out of her situation, Courtney admits that the current living situation occasionally gets to her, especially when it comes to the health of her grandparents who are also her caretakers.
“They do so much for me,” she said.
She said for many years, she has been praying for God to help her grandparents out and she knew it was only a matter of time before her prayers were answered.
“I knew if I kept at it, things would change.”
And they did – or at least the possibility of change increased – a few weeks ago.
In July, Pastor Allen Evans of Bible Truth Tabernacle and his wife Renee went to Colorado to visit some friends who oversee a church and were inspired to do a fundraiser similar to the one they were doing. Since they didn’t immediately know what would be a good cause to undertake, they prayed for the answer to come to them.
“One day over coffee, we were talking about Courtney (who has been a member of the church since infancy) and her living situation and how we were worried that Esther or Jim might have a heart attack or stroke while helping her one day and we just looked at each other and knew immediately that there was our cause.”
After church three weeks ago, Evans took Courtney aside and told her that he wanted to do a fundraiser for her and her family and the purpose would be to raise enough money to build them a handicap accessible home to make life easier for the tight-knit family.
“I sat there and cried when he told me,” said Courtney. “I have been praying for this for such a long time.”
She said knowing that there is greater likelihood that she and her grandparents will be able to move into a handicap accessible home in the future means so much to her.
“It would help my grandparents, it would help me with my independence and, really, it would just mean everything,” she said.
Evans said he is very confident the house will be built (Bible Truth Tabernacle owns property near the church and they plan to build the Donaldson’s future home there).
“We’ve never done a project like this before and when we presented it to our congregation they were just gung ho for it.”
He said members who are construction workers or have other trades have offered their time, expertise and materials on the house and others have rallied to raise funds. So far, over $15,000 has been raised to build Courtney a new home with the goal being $100,000. They have set up a GoFundMe page and have established a Bike-A-Thon for Oct. 10 at the Camp Chase portion of Battelle Darby Creek Metro Parks.
Like Evans, Courtney said she has faith she will finally get to live in a home that is suited for her needs and her grandparents’ health in the near future.
“God helps me through everything,” she said. “I’ve been through a lot in my life and he’s helped me the whole time so I believe that with God everything is possible.”
If you would like to help build Courtney’s dream home, please visit gofundme.com/g34qbupe for more information. If you would like to participate in the Bike-A-Thon, call Bible Truth Tabernacle at 275-0560. The time for the Bike-A-Thon has yet to be determined but Evans said 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. seems a likely start.
