thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

At first it was downright scary. Flames rose from the stove top at Haven House. Smoke filled the kitchen of the domestic violence emergency shelter in Maryville.

“A client was cooking and the stove was left unattended and the grease caught on fire. Then it exploded,” said Joani Shaver, the shelter’s executive director.
Later it didn’t seem so bad. The scorched area was limited.

Then the insurance company claims adjuster arrived and reality set in — “You need to get this dried out right away.”

Fire didn’t devastate the kitchen. Water blasting from the powerful sprinkler system did.

“It was the sprinkler that ruined the floor and cabinets and counters and all the appliances. Our entire kitchen is basically gutted,” Shaver said Tuesday.

The recent fire has Haven House crying out for help.

Insurance should cover the cost of putting the kitchen — a room designed for one family — back the way it was. But that kitchen was never adequate for the shelter’s needs, according to Shaver.

Now the Haven House Board of Directors and staff are asking the community for help in turning this near disaster into an opportunity fulfilled.

“We’re trying to find some folks in town who will help us put this back — who will do our renovation for us and not cost an arm and a leg,” Shaver said.

The ultimate goal is to put Haven House’s kitchen back better than before.
“We’re going to totally redo the kitchen so it’s functional. We have 32 beds here. We could never have more than 20 (clients) because of the kitchen. They can’t even cook and eat together. It’s not been good.”

On Thursday the shelter had to turn away five victims of abusive situations because the kitchen is unusable. Shaver said Tuesday that since Haven House’s occupancy is already severely limited due to the damage, there is an opportune chance to do more than a minimal fix.

“The fact is — renovating this kitchen — there would never be a good time. If we have to redo it, let’s do it right. If we can’t, when are we going to have time to do it over?”

There is a bit of good luck from this flaming mess. It came from another disappointment. Last winter Shaver applied for a $72,000 HUD grant to renovate the kitchen and also to make the shelter’s empty basement usable. Funding was denied.
While Haven House didn’t get the money, it did get a plan. To help with the grant application, Clayton Homes volunteered to prepare an architectural design for the kitchen renovation. Manufactured home designers are experts at maximizing living space.

“This plan utilizes every square inch of that kitchen. Not only that, but the refrigerator is going to be put right through the wall, so it is not sticking out into the room. When Clayton Homes developed it, I told them we need storage and all the space we can get,” Shaver said.

That space will allow more food for more meals.

“People are so generous. We get so many donations of food, but we have no capacity to store as much food as we are given. With the renovation, we’ll have 10 times as much storage in our kitchen, so we can take more of the good will of the people and put it to good use.”

The Clayton Homes design also creates a pass-through, so mothers cooking in the kitchen will be able to watch their children in the dining/play area.

As word about the fire has spread, some have already talked about helping.
“We’ve got some people who seem to be stepping up,” Shaver said.

But Haven House needs more. Not that the abused women and the children housed at the shelter are pleading for contractors and wholesalers and retailers and citizens to reach out to them. They’ve already felt the grip of a helping hand.

“Our clients are so grateful to have a place that’s not abusive and violent that they all are overwhelmed just to be here and be safe. There’s no complaint from the clients,” Shaver said.