Ralph Burke was invited to attend Leavener which gathers at Pinheads Entertainment Center in Fishers, IN on Sunday Mornings. At the end of the gathering Ralph was invited to the front and share his story with the whole group. You can see the highlights of this moment in this video. For the first time, a larger group of people got to hear the Burke Family story. It was a pretty incredible experience as the people spoke back to Ralph and encouraged him in his family's journey. There is no question from their public response that they want to walk with Burke's through this journey of completing their home.

Today, we got to meet Ralph Burke at his house that is under remodeling. Those who gathered at the Burke House with Ralph were Brent Moon, John Getchell, Rusty Kennedy, John Hilfiker, Joe Harding & Bill Kennedy. We heard Ralph's story from Ralph for the first time. We were able to pray with Ralph in his own home. Ralph was humbled by any attempt to help his family with their house.

After this meeting at the Burke House, everyone but Ralph & Brent went to breakfast and came up with a budget of what it would cost to finish this home. The total cost would be right at $75,000. This is an overwhelming task for Ralph who was trying to do this project paycheck to paycheck. A loan was not possible because their financial situation  which was greatly impacted by medical bills.

This story was first shared in October with the Director of Leavener by Brent Moon. Brent unpacked how he had run across a friend from his past at lunch one day in July. The friend was going through some pretty tough circumstances. Brent's friend's name is Ralph Burke. Ralph is married to Belinda and has two children, Elizabeth & Noah. Elizabeth was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis shortly after her birth. They lived in a 90 year old house in Carmel, IN. Ralph was in the process of remodeling and enlarging this house. This project became more than Ralph could handle both financially and physically. The Burke family had moved out and is currently living with Belinda's parents. He was ready to walk away from his house and let it go into foreclosure.

Today, the Leavener Director met with Brent Moon and John Getchell (Getchell Brothers Construction) and talked about the possibility of helping this family finish their house so their family could be back together in their own home. We knew we needed to gather more information at this point.