Welcome home to the Westfalls

By MIKE JAMES - The Independent

FLATWOODS April 29, 2008 11:34 pm

— A few neighbors stopped by Jim and Mary Westfall’s new house Tuesday.
The occasion was ceremonial. The Westfalls moved in three weeks ago after volunteers spent five months building the house next door to the ramshackle green one they’ve lived in for 35 years.
So Mayor Bobby Crager and some other dignitaries assembled on the porch, made speeches and snipped red ribbons to celebrate completion of the first project of the Westfall Foundation.
The Rev. John Brown, pastor of the Flatwoods Church of Christ, said the foundation exemplifies the example of the Good Samaritan, who went out of his way to help a suffering stranger.
The parable, and the foundation as well, say a lot about neighbors, Brown said. “It’s interesting that Jesus changed the question from ‘Who is my neighbor,’ to ‘Who can I be a neighbor to,’” he said.
That was the question organizers asked themselves when they launched the foundation.
“It’s been a pure joy to see this project through,” said Mike Wheeler, owner of Tri-State Lawn Care and Construction. Wheeler headed up the volunteer effort to build the house.
The foundation and the project were born when members of the Russell Christian Church were casting about for ways to help people in the community who were in need, Wheeler said. They chose the Westfalls to start with because Jim Westfall is well-known in Flatwoods as a man who would help his neighbors.
However, Jim Westfall fell into bad health and had two heart surgeries.
The foundation raised around $70,000 in money and materials and recruited volunteers to do the work. It still needs about $4,000 to complete an outbuilding and demolish the old homeplace.
Both structures are located on Indian Run Road near the intersection with McCown Street.
The older house with its shabby green asphalt siding, tarpaper peeking out between broken panels, and weathered bare wood window frames is a study in contrast beside the new one with its white vinyl siding, fresh new shingled roof and wood front porch.
Still, the Westfalls are taking their time getting used to it. “It’s not home yet,” said Mary Westfall. “We’ve been in that old house 35 years. It’s going to take a while.
“But it’s a nice house.”
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.

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