Our New Home: The Chapin Family's Extreme Home Makeover

Early last year, Connie Chapin contacted Hopelink and offered to tell her Hopelink story of utilizing energy assistance and food bank services for the Spring 2006 issue of the Reaching Out newsletter. Little did anyone know that just a year and a half later, Connie's "charming, drafty 100-year-old bungalow", described in the story would be gone, and in its place would stand a beautiful, comfortable and energy-efficient new home.

More than just charming and drafty, the bungalow had become unsafe, according to an independent structural specialist, and Connie once again was in need of help.  This time, the ever-resourceful mother of four decided to give a one-in-a-million possibility a try, and she applied to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  On the morning of September 26, 2007, Ty Pennington knocked on the family's door and answered Connie's dreams and prayers - and turned the family into Kirkland's newest celebrity residents.

Hopelink was honored to play a part in building Connie's new home by recruiting some of the hundreds of volunteers the project required.  We are grateful to the many Hopelink staff and supporters who answered our call for help.

"Hopelink helps people on so many levels and we will always be thankful for all the assistance we received," Connie said.  "I want my story in Reaching Out and on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition show to help spread the word about everything Hopelink does, and encourage even more community support, so that the organization continues to provide support to families in need."

Connie owns Angelfish Swimming in Kirkland, which she developed while utilizing Hopelink's services.  She named her swimming lesson business "Angelfish" after the assistance she received from Hopelink enabled her to turn her attention away from her family crises and toward creating a source of income - and food and heat - for herself and her children.  She thinks of Hopelink as her "angel", providing her with fish while she figured out how she was going to fish for herself and her family.

Connie is a Kirkland native. In fact, the bungalow that Extreme Makeover replaced was the home she grew up in, complete with the pool her parents installed in the backyard in 1980.

She is one of five children born to hard-working parents, and had an active childhood, filled with sports, academics, leadership roles in school, community involvement and lots of friends. “We never just had our own family at dinner,” Connie remembered. “When we had friends over, mom would ask if they’d eaten and if they hadn’t, they were told to grab a plate and a seat at the table.”

Connie’s vision of her future always included a large family, community involvement and hard work. “I watched my parents work hard, so that was my model. I’m driven,” she said simply. “That’s what I was used to and that’s how I envisioned living my life.”

After high school, Connie went to Central Washington University where she majored in Industrial Distribution Technology, which combines technology and business. She graduated and got married in the same year; five years later, she gave birth to her first child. When her third child was born, she left her 10-year career as a project manager in the aerospace business for a less demanding part-time job so she could spend more time with her children. After a time, Connie became a full-time, stay-at-home mom. Then, in 2001, things fell apart when she lost a baby and her marriage of 15 years.

"There I was with four children, legal expenses, and household bills, and no job that I could find would pay enough to cover the cost of having the kids in daycare," Connie said.  "My mom was helping me out financially as much as she could, but it wasn't enough."

With the cupboards and refrigerator getting bare, Connie turned to Hopelink.

"I remember seeing flyers around town, and some friends had gotten help from Hopelink once or twice, so I knew about the organization," Connie explained.  "At the time, I was home-schooling my kids, so on food bank day, after we had our lessons, we'd all go down and pick up supplies for the next two weeks."

Hopelink also provided assistance in paying her energy bills after Connie received shut-off notices.

"All this was happening while I was trying to figure out a new direction for my life," Connie said.  "I didn't know how I was going to support my family in the long term, but at least I knew where my food was coming from and how I could keep the house heated.

"I was receiving fish," she continued, "but I needed to learn how to fish for myself."

When Connie's youngest child became preschool age, she decided it was time to enroll all the kids in school, and Hopelink provided backpacks full of school supplies.  She took a part-time job as an aide at her son's preschool just to have some money coming in while she looked for a full-time job.  Things were stabilizing for the family, then a crisis hit.  During a rare March snowstorm, Connie's 85-year-old oil furnace died.

"We had carbon monoxide poisoning all over the house," Connie recalled with a shudder.  "It was snowing like crazy and the furnace people said we had to shut down the heat. We couldn't stay in the house and I certainly couldn't afford to replace the furnace.  We stayed with friends over the next couple of weeks, then a dear friend who owns a furnace company came to the rescue.  A lot of families at our church pitched in to help us buy a new furnace, and I'll always be grateful.  The problem was, the furnace was gas but the house didn't have it."

Hopelink then stepped in to help pay for the gas hookups.

"It was a tough decision for Hopelink to make because it was expensive," Connie admitted.  "My house is a charming, drafty 100-year-old bungalow with single pane windows.  I used to hang mobiles in front of the dining room windows just to see how much wind came in.  Gas is much more efficient and cheaper, so they decided it was a better choice than to keep subsidizing our oil heat."

By spring of 2002, things were looking more positive for the family, though Connie still hadn't hit on the best way to provide for her family long-term.

"I was staring out the window one day, thinking about it," she said, "and the swimming pool caught my eye.  My parents had it built in 1980 and 22 years later, it was run-down, the equipment was falling apart and it was on its last legs.  I recall thinking 'why do I have this thing? I can't afford to maintain it.'  The next day I was talking to a girlfriend about it and she suggested I start teaching swimming lessons.  She said, 'you're so positive and fun, I think you'd be great at it.'"

The next thing Connie knew, all of her neighbors had promised to send her their children for lessons, and Angelfish Swimming was born.

"That first summer, I had 20 kids in swimming lessons," she said proudly.  "The next summer, I was up to 75 kids.  For the first couple of years, I reinvested everything I could in the business, so now the pool has updated filters, a heater and a dome over it, and I can teach swimming year round."

"I'm glad I was able to turn a liability into an asset," Connie adds, "because I didn't want to give up the home I was raised in."

The swimming business has grown dramatically.  Over the course of the summer, Connie now teaches 200 young swimmers in weekly 30-minute classes, and 100 children during the September to June off-season.  Classes are small - just four students each - to allow for extra attention to each swimmer.

"On top of the lessons, we rent out for pool parties, which brings in a little extra money," Connie said.  "Financially, it's still tight because it's expensive maintaining the house and the pool.  I'm struggling to put braces on the kids' teeth, but at least I'm struggling for braces, and not food."

Connie fondly remembers the assistance from Hopelink nearly every day.

"My kids learned a lot about what it means to be charitable," Connie reflected, "and also what it means to ask for help.  Hopelink exists to help people, to provide fish so they can eat while they're learning how to fish for themselves, and retain their dignity in the process.  Personally, I felt like I was helping myself by coming to Hopelink, rather than looking for a handout.

"We've held food drives to benefit the agency," she continued, "because we feel called to give back.  Hopelink gave us hope, and now we're all about helping to pass on hope to others who need it."

The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode featuring Connie Chapin and her family will air on Sunday, December 16, at 8:00 p.m. on ABC.