A House for Chloe's Place

One huge consideration for the ministry of Chloe’s Place is where the ‘house’ will be located. This issue is bigger than me or the Foundation Building Team or all of us combined. It is an issue that is in the hands of God. I believe that God has a design for Chloe’s Place and that the ‘house’ is part of that design. That does not mean that we sit by and wait for the door bell to ring and Ed McMahon to appear with a check in the exact amount to purchase and furnish the ‘perfect house. (Ed, if you are reading this and have such a check… bring it on, we can adapt our plan to accommodate the gift! ) I find myself on the ‘look out’ all the time, wondering when I see a rambling style house, if it could be ‘the one’.

Here are a few of the requirements for our house:

• 12 bedroom… each mom will have a room as will her children; we plan to serve 6 teen moms at a time.

• Dining space to accommodate all residents and staff

• Bathrooms enough to meet the code requirement for our families and staff

• Kitchen large enough for 2 refrigerator, 2 dishwashers, a pantry, and spacious cabinets for storage

• Office space for Administrative, Service, and Volunteer Coordinators
  

• Laundry room …super sized

• Play area for children
  

• Gathering room for family activities

We are hopeful that we will have space nearby for community outreach; allowing us to offer parenting and life skill classes to teen moms that are not in need of the residential living program. At that site we will need:

• Classroom space

• Learning lab

• Office space

The Ohio Revised Code has quite a few specifications about the layout and design of a house for parenting teens. We will of course have to meet each requirement including Fire Marshall mandates, security, and health and safety considerations.

Hope House of Colorado received a donation of a house that had served a family of 9! The only stipulation was that they had to move it! With no land and time constraints they were ecstatic to receive a call from a church with a lot to donate!

I don’t know how our who God will use to raise up a house for Chloe’s Place, but I know for sure that God will provide as we continue to be available, faithful and bold in this faith journey.

Shortly after the vision for Chloe’s Place began to unfold I thought we should decide on a general geographic area to focus our attention. North East Franklin County in Ohio is convenient for those of us involved and CHLOE, Inc has some name recognition. I printed off a map and decided to estimate where the’ ideal’ location might be… I put a little mark on the map. Our Prayer Intercessors began praying for God’s best plan for our house and confirmation or redirection of our desired location. Since that time we have been invited by a wonderful church, in the exact area of our prayer focus, to establish Chloe’s Place. They have several buildings that with lots of work; to reconfigure and/or restore, just might work! There is a counseling service on site as well as classroom and office space.

Last week I toured a house that we have access to right now! It is in Columbus on a quiet court . The house is most likely too small to meet the Code requirements, but there were a couple of house on the court for sale… would it be possible to make that location work? It is worth considering!

We have a ton of work to do, including recruiting individuals, churches, and corporations that believe in this ministry enough to become financial supporters, before we can commit to a location. On the other hand, we can’t be licensed until we have a house! Join us as we discover God’s design for Chloe’s Place… it is a thrilling venture!