INSIDE THIS ISSUE Business & Professional ....................................A6 Classifieds..........................................................B10 Community Calendar .................................B14-15 Dining & Entertainment.................................A8-9 Healthy Times..................................................B2-3 Library Times ......................................................B7 Youth .................................................................A6-7 Worship Briefs.....................................................A6
A Serving Southwest Allen County & Roanoke
August 3, 2012
www.FWDailyNews.com
Taking back the neighborhood NeighborLink Fort Wayne takes community action model to other cities By Valerie Caviglia vcaviglia@kpcnews.net
It wasn’t long ago when a quaint, yellow house on Fourth Street had a secret. From the outside, the home seemed fine enough, but its cheery color was a good diversion from what really was going on inside. For weeks, homeowner Audrey Clark had been sleeping in the living room. She was forced out of the bedroom when the ceiling caved, caused by a dilapidated roof long in need of repair. But a shoddy roof was not all Clark had been facing. Her spinal collapse had left her with limited mobility, mounding medical bills and few financial resources. With just one thing left to do, Clark called NeighborLink. “A lot of the wood underneath was rotted out, so we had to completely re-sheet (the roof),” Brett Meyer said. As a volunteer for NeighborLink, Meyer coached a team to replace the roof on Clark’s home. It was one of three roofs repaired during NeighborLink’s recent Raise the Roof project. “We had no idea how bad the damage was. We weren’t expecting the wood to be as bad as it was.” Despite the challenge, the team
Courtesy photo
Jeff Gordon snaps a photo with Riley Kid, Karson Cabe, who was one of several guests of honor at Gordon’s annual charity bowling tournament this year in Indianapolis.
Cancer survivor meets Jeff Gordon Courtesy photo
Volunteers work in high temperatures to replace the roof on Audrey Clark’s Fourth Street home during NeighborLink Fort Wayne’s Raise the Roof project July 20-21.
By Nichole Hacha-Thomas
managed to completely tear off and replace the roof on Clark’s home. Because of it, she now sleeps comfortably in her bedroom at night. Who knows when that would have happened again without the organization’s help. But Clark is not the only one with
this kind of story. There are homes in every neighborhood in need of repair and upkeep, but in this day and age, the knee-jerk reaction is to call neighborhood code. People don’t want to knock on their neighbor’s
Seven-year-old Karson Cabe had the chance of a lifetime July 26 when he met Jeff Gordon — Indiana native, NASCAR driver and founder of Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation — during Gordon’s annual bowling tournament to raise funds for pediatric cancer research. Cabe, though, almost didn’t have the opportunity.
See LINK, page A13
See SURVIVOR, page A3
Local resident qualifies for Boston Marathon By Nichole Hacha-Thomas nthomas@kpcnews.net
Courtesy photo
Aboite-area resident and pastor at First Presbyterian Church Arienne Lehn, right, celebrates with her husband Jeff, also a pastor, after finishing the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., and qualifying for the Boston Marathon. “It has become its own sort of sanctuary for me,” Lehn said. “It’s also a good stress relief.” Lehn ran her first marathon, the Twin See MARATHON, page A6
3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 460808
Times Community Publications
Pastor and Aboite-area resident Arienne Lehn is going to have one heck of a 28th birthday celebration. On April 15, 2013, instead of wearing a party hat and blowing out candles, Lehn will don her runner’s gear and suit up for the famed Boston Marathon. “It’s always been a dream of mine to run the Boston Marathon. So, if there is a year to do it, this is it,” Lehn said of the race landing on her birthday. Earlier this year, Lehn made her birthday wish come true when she finished the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., in just 3 hours, 21 minutes and 25 seconds, fast enough to qualify to sign up on the second day of registration for one of the country’s biggest marathons. Lehn has been running since she was in high school, a trait she picked up from her father, who has been a life-long runner. “He was the one who first ignited my passion for running,” Lehn said. Lehn started running track before falling in love with cross country running. Though she didn’t run competitively in college, she used running as an escape from the busyness of life.
nthomas@kpcnews.net