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10A | JULY 29, 2021 | HOME from A1 community to each share what little they can to cook a meal. “This is exactly a ‘Stone Soup’ project because it started off with just one man – Jason [Bush] – and an idea,” he said. Jayson is a disabled vet- eran of the Iraq War. He had already served in the U.S. Marine Corps when he chose to answer Presi- dent George Bush’s call for a troop surge in the Iraq War — and at 34 years old, he went overseas as an in- fantry medic. While serving, Jayson suffered several injuries at numerous locations over his body. As a result, Jayson has had dozens of surgeries related to his injuries and continues to have extreme nerve pain – pain so intense he has had bouts of vomit- ing, he said. He also has an implanted spinal cord stim- ulator which sends electri- cal impulses to outpace the pain signals to his brain. After a lengthy reckon- ing with Jayson’s condition, Jayson and Misty found so- lace in launching their own business, SouthPaws LLC, which trains service dogs to meet the needs of their clients. Jayson has also logged hundreds of hours to peer mentoring with the Veter- ans Treatment Court, a spe- cialty court which helps set veterans on more produc- tive paths if they are in legal trouble due to mental dis- orders or drug addictions. COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL However, tragedy stuck when the 2019 snowstorm brought four trees down onto the Southmayd’s home, unhousing the fam- ily. It would be 14 months of hotels, rentals and RV trail- ers before the Southmayds entered their own home again. During the rebuilding process, though, the South- mayds had also entered into a deal with a contrac- tor acquaintance who the family would not name for this story, citing legal rea- sons. After moving into their rebuilt home, they began noticing mounting prob- lems with the house’s con- struction, which the con- tractor would not rectify. Bush first entered the scene last July after hearing about the case. His initial assumption that the situation was sim- ply an exaggerated dis- agreement quickly evap- orated when he saw the extent of house’s problems. In addition to wires hanging out of the wall, a host of other issues were found such as the roof slumping, weak founda- tions, a leaking sewer pipe and a lack of nails on the house’s siding, which cause the panels to slap the side of the house when the wind blows, triggering Jayson’s PTSD. “There’s only one house I’ve seen that was worse,” said Bush at the time. “It was when I was a building official in Lebanon and it was a heroin house.” Bush began sharing the story with others in the construction field, rallying several contractors around a project to make the home safe for the Southmayds. After an extensive home inspection report, however, it became clear the house was beyond repair. Bush said the house met several components of “dangerous building” code. “It gives you 15 compo- nents. Any combination of those 15 components and I can declare this a danger- ous building,” he said. “I’ve probably got 14.” Tapping into his exten- sive rolodex, Bush was able to secure commitments from a number of profes- sionals and the “stone soup” was beginning to heat up. Today, construction is about 50 percent complete and nearly dried in, secur- ing the building sufficiently to continue construction in wind and rain. The project has raised about $61,000 in funds alone, though the generous donations in labor and ma- terials bring that number to around $200,000, Bush said. In the end, he estimates the project will have con- structed a $400,000 house. “As far as the project, I’m tickled to death,” said Bush. “It’s going good. It’s going smooth.” The new building is be- ing designed with Jayson in mind as well. Due to the nature of his injuries, the veteran expects to even- tually be in a wheelchair and the restrictions due to COVID-19 have complicat- ed his access to treatments. Muscle atrophy due to a lack of physical therapy has weakened him and the therapy room in particular will be critical to Jayson’s quality of life. “I’ve gone downhill so far since COVID,” said Jayson. “Everything that we had done, up into the point of COVID, got erased. And I’m actually down fur- ther now than I’ve been in years.” Though thankful for the generosity, Bush knows the project cannot count on free or heavily discounted materials to continue indef- initely. He said he is con- cerned about staying ahead of the project as material prices have skyrocketed. “I want to keep our mo- mentum going because I’m afraid that if I don’t, things won’t get done,” he said. He estimates as much as another $80,000 will have to be secured to get the job done. When a fundraiser for the project first launched on GoFundMe last year, it garnered a good deal of attention, however the mo- mentum has not kept since moving the fundraiser to Operation Second Chance, a nonprofit charity which aids wounded veterans. Bush and the South- mayds suspect that since the online move, there may have been confusion about how to donate. Though labor is not an issue, donations drying up has been a worry. “I’m just concerned we won’t have enough money to bridge the gap in materi- als and labor to get the final products,” said Bush. There is also urgency in getting the project done be- fore winter. Perhaps most alarming is a failing roof in the Southmayds’ current home, which they are not certain will survive another winter. The ceiling is being braced up from the inside. On top of looming struc- tural failure, the South- mayds’ current house can- not maintain heating up to code, said Bush. “And if they can’t main- tain the heat, they’re all huddled around the stove. And the stove is under the roof that’s going to fail,” he added. Jayson also relies heavily on heat to manage his pain, meaning winters can be particularly punishing. “It’s not just the house that’s gonna collapse — it’s me,” he said. Considering the unac- ceptability of living through another winter in their cur- rent house, Bush is hoping to have the family in their new home by October or sooner. Once the Southmayds are in their new home, Bush plans to forensically bring down the old build- ing, using it as a cautionary tale for others in the field. “We’re going to try to create a humungous train- ing opportunity for all the building departments in Oregon,” he said. For the Southmayds part, they remain grateful for the support over the past year and hope it will sustain un- til the project’s completion. “It was humbling,” said Jayson of the past year of donations. “I mean, it re- stores a person’s faith in humanity, especially after these last couple years. … None of this would be hap- pening without the kind- ness and the help from others. “And we’re not victims, we’re warriors. But nobody fights wars alone. … I just want to say thank you to everybody who has already donated and everybody who’s even thinking [about it]. It means more than any- body could ever know.” To donate to the con- struction project, go online to southmaydhomebuild. org, click “Donate,” and under “Designation,” des- ignate funds for the South- mayd Special Project. The new GoFundMe ac- count can be found under the title “Southmayd Home Build.” GROVE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT “B UILDING A H EALTHY C OMMUNITY ” Y OUR L OCAL P ROVIDER OF H OME M EDICAL E QUIPMENT ! 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