Marine Parents was born in January of 2003. My son was deploying to Iraq and I was scared. I put a few pages online, just hoping that it might help a parent or two that had the same questions I did. Before I knew it, Marine Parents had become a huge entity of support for Marine families.

I worked solo for the first year, using my home for the office and letting my business pay the expenses. It got so big I decided to incorporate, then it got bigger, and we filed for nonprofit status. Then it got bigger and I hired employees, still working from my home and sending care packages from my barn.

My husband, Luigi and I decided in November of 2006 to reclaim our home. We had three employees (Derrick, Stephanie and Rachael) plus me, all crammed into the basement office at my home; it's not a full basement, just a partial. It was crowded to say the least. UPS and/or Fedex showed up daily with deliveries to our 20x40 barn (actually a butlers building with a concrete floor). My home had turned into a zoo and I hadn't even noticed. Luigi begrudgingly showed me that we no longer had living room furniture in the house; it was all office, care packages and T-shirts.

That December, I went to pick up a shipment of items for the care packages at Dayton Freight and Shane graciously showed me their warehouse, which had tons of empty space not only in the warehouse, but in the offices as well. We needed both warehouse space and an office. I called the landlord, he cut us a great deal, and we rented it almost the next day. Dayton Freight quickly became one of our corporate sponsors. The landlord gave us the office for a mere $800 a month, including utilities. What a deal!

In late 2007, we were stuffed to the gills again and couldn't walk from desk to desk in the office. We had already "squatted" on the project room and little closet that has since been turned into the kitchen area. We leased what is now the big packing room, which at that time was divided by a wall into two rooms, for an additional $200. That same year, we tore down the wall with volunteer help, cut the door into the kitchen area, and installed the kitchen cabinetry.

Fast forward to January of 2009: we have a total of 3700 square feet for $1000 a month, utilities included. Life is good. Our landlords have been so generous with us, but now the tide turns and they will be shutting the building down for renovations in order to sell it. There's no moving back, it's a done deal and we've got to move by May 1. I cried when he told me, as our National Conference is in April, and I just didn't see how I could get it all done. He extended our move date to June 1. They have been so very good to us and I want to thank each of them for their generosity.

Our current rent of $1000 a month is quite manageable, but on top of salaries, phones and growing Internet costs, I'm really afraid to go much higher than that, but realize we will have to. With help from local radio talk show host Gary Nolan at the Eagle 93.9 here in Columbia, Missouri, we've found a building down the street that we can rent space in for $1500 a month plus utilities. We can comfortably do that. The kicker is, it's not an office. It's a warehouse divided into quadrants and we'll be renting two of those quadrants. We can't afford rent in a finished office; it's just too expensive.

Each quadrant of the warehouse measures 75x25. One will remain as is, with the exception of tearing down a bathroom that was set up in the middle of the floor, and boxing in some pipes and gadgets and things that make no sense to me, but I'm certain it would be unsafe with a lot of folks in there sorting and packing care packages for our Marines.

The second quadrant is a warehouse, and we need it for an office. The interior is concrete, red iron, and dividing walls between each quadrant built of flame-retardant sheetrock. To have an office there, we'll be starting from scratch. Literally.

Marine Parents has grown exponentially in the past 6 years and I don't see it slowing down in the near future. We'll be "building up" with a second floor in part of the space so we can be sure we don't grow out of it too quickly. The students at the local high schools that come in weekly to volunteer with us need space to work in; the upper level will replace what we currently have as the "Project Room" and we can expand to add additional offices later as necessary. The lower level will be offices and additional space for overflow for The Care Package Projects' packing days, including bathrooms and a kitchen area to serve lunch after packing the boxes.

Though I'm still getting estimates and roughing in the plans, it appears that our costs for materials only, no labor, will be $17,000. I've never known a renovation project to come in under budget, so I'm going to be asking for $18,000 in donations so we can get the renovations done and move our office. And I need countless hours of volunteer time from professionals as well as handy-man and anyone that can use a paintbrush.

We'll use this web page to plan, share schedules, recruit volunteers, raise funds, and get the work done. We take possession of the space March 1, rent-free for two months. I'd love to be finished by May 1 so we don't pay rent in both locations, but I know that's a tall order. Regardless, we have to be moved by July 1, while continuing operations of all the programs that Marine Parents offers.

We need your help. To read more and for ways you can help, use the links in the beige box at the top right of the page.