Showcase Of Homes Helps Homeless

The Oskaloosa Tour of Homes was held on December 2nd and 3rd. (photo by Ginger Allsup)

The Oskaloosa Tour of Homes was held on December 2nd and 3rd. (photo by Ginger Allsup)

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The annual Oskaloosa Tour of Homes took place on Sunday, as four homeowners shared their homes to help others without a home.

The host church for this year’s tour was First Christian Church.

The four homes on display included:

Michelle & Nathan Lahner, 212 North 9th
Jane & Dave Krutzfeldt, 2415 McMullin Dr.
Betty & Harold DeBoef, 2413 Ridgeway
Jackie & Adam Webb, 2620 Carbonado Road

At the Krutzfeldt’s, a self-guided tour was available, which had very descriptive cards placed along the home informing visitors what the significance of that piece of furniture, ornament, etc. was to them.

One of those special items is the family’s dining room table that was her father’s childhood table, which made for fun informative learning for visitors to the home.

For Jane Krutzfeldt, she says the special part of the home is the “fact that we raised our family here. It’s a home, just like everybody else’s. But the things we’ve put in it are mainly from our family, and they have significance to us. They might not mean anything to anyone else, but it’s a chance to share our stories.”

There wasn’t a special theme to the home or any particular room. “We remember the rooms as to which kid resided there,” added Jane about the four kids raised in the home. “As soon as the first kid moved out, then one of the bedrooms became an office.”

One of the fun questions Dave and Jane would ask visitors to the home is how many nativity scenes they found, and a total number wasn’t even certain to the homeowners. “One group came up with 55. I think that’s probably the closest to accurate.”

Those nativity scenes were various sizes. “The smallest one I have is painted on a coffee bean,” added Jane.

With the money raised going to the homeless of Mahaska County, Jane said, “I think it’s a very ironic thing that homes are being used to help the homeless.”

At Harold and Betty DeBoef’s home, they were spending one of their first Christmas seasons in their new home, after moving to Oskaloosa from the country just a year and a half ago.

For Betty, being a part of the tour of homes was an easy choice. ‘I love Oskaloosa.”

Harold and Betty had lived in Keokuk County for a number of years when Betty served in the Iowa House. “We lived there 15 years, but I never felt at home in Keokuk County. This was home.”

The home they live in now was Harold’s uncles home, that was built in 1986 by Jim Brummel.

Harold’s uncle had a special lift built into the home. In the back of the garage is a hand-crafted ramp from the garage into the basement. “This whole ramp ramps down, and he was going to build an airplane in the basement, and this was his plan for how he would get it out,” explained Betty.

The hydraulic ramp has proven to be very helpful in another way, making moving heavy furniture and drywall into the basement much easier.

Betty was on the tour of homes last year when she was approached by a couple of people to put her house on the tour the following year. “That’s going to be a motivation to get my house in shape,” Betty said upon deciding to participate.

“I had lots of help this week,” said Betty of getting the house decorating finished.

Family is important to the De Boef’s, who have 4 children and 20 grandchildren, and their photos were visible around the home. “It says right there — faith, family, farm. That’s what we’re about.”

Antiques, dolls, tea sets, and lots of Dutch Delft is what decorates Harold and Betty’s home, with the exception of Harold’s man cave.

When Betty agreed to be a part of the Tour of Homes, she hadn’t heard what the charity would be. “It’s excellent. I’m very glad that we can be here to support the Homelessness Coalition.”

Posted by on Dec 5 2018. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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