Kelly Kenoyer
When the cold starts creeping in and the rain won’t go away, sometimes the best gift a family can receive is a roof over their heads.
That’s why some enterprising local citizens started a GoFundMe for struggling family living in a trailer and tents without heating this holiday season: Tawsha Norberg and her kids Connor, 14, Kyle, 11, Haley, 8, and Chelsea, 18 months.
Within five days, the fundraiser had achieved its goal of $5,000, and a couple who saw the GoFundMe had offered to pay the first three months of rent on their new home.
Kyla Jutte, a staff member at The New Era who came up with the idea for the fundraiser, said “it just keeps growing out and out.”
She initially decided to help the family over the summer, as the children are the grandchildren of one of her friends.
“We just fell in love with them,” she said. “My husband talks to Kyle about fishing, and all three of the older kids just love coming over.”
So after the two boys came over for Thanksgiving, Jutte started thinking about buying them presents for Christmas. But she quickly realized a better gift would be stability.
Her daughter-in-law, Olivia Bulman, started the online fundraiser after seeing how thoughtful and “sweet-hearted” the boys were during a visit.
“It’s just really hard because the mom is single, she’s working really hard to provide for her kids and she’s just going through a really rough time,” Bulman said. She reached out to friends to find resources for the family and got them connected with CSC and other local organizations. She said she was amazed by how quickly the fundraiser met its goal.
“I think all of us feel like God has just called us to help this family and that’s really who we’re trying to listen to and follow. And for whatever reason, he’s put all of them in our hearts, you know?”
Bulman said friends of friends from outside the community and within it have come out of the woodwork to support this family in need, both with financial donations and with Christmas gifts.
Norberg fell on hard times when she separated from her husband earlier this year, which drove her to live in a small trailer on her mother’s property after she lost her house. It’s cold inside the trailer, she said, so the family has a fire going outside all day.
She works at the Georgia-Pacific Mill in Halsey for long hours each week to support her family. “Lately, I’ve been working over 40 hours a week,” she said, but the Community Services Consortium has stepped in to help provide childcare. She said she hopes to stay in the Sweet Home area for her kids’ sake.
“They don’t want to lose all their friends,” she said. The family is still looking for a three-bedroom home in the area, but have had trouble securing a lease.
If renting a house doesn’t work out, Jutte said she and her husband are considering another way of helping the family.
“We are thinking about cosigning for them or maybe buying a travel trailer that’s big enough for them,” she said. “We could put it out by Edgewater along the lake there. The boys love fishing, it would be perfect.”
Those interested in helping can reach out to Jutte at The New Era, (541) 367-2135.