A Home for Melanie & Michael

Hello! My name is Ashley Strutz, and I am setting up this fundraiser to help my dear friend of 27 years, Melanie Kaegi. I would not be the person I am today without her unconditional love and support through the beautiful yet turbulent times of raising our kids together. We met at the Fairgrounds pushing toddlers on swings and connected instantly because of our shared experiences. Not only have we been close friends for many years, we both went back to school when our kids were older to pursue a degree in higher education. And since we also chose the field of human services, I've been lucky enough to call her a colleague for over ten years. If you don't know Melanie, she is a long-time islander who has been a source of support, encouragement, and light for many in our community.

Melanie and her family have lived on the island for 27 years in various rental properties and are currently renting month-to-month with the understanding that the property will be sold within the next couple of years. It is time for Melanie and her family to have a permanent place to call home. As we all know, housing costs on the island have continued to rise, and monthly rental payments are almost the same as a mortgage payments. Melanie and her family have found a fixer-upper to potentially purchase, but they need a little extra support to reach the down payment. They have a family member helping, but they cannot quite get the rest of the money for the down payment alone. Melanie has shared her story below.

Hello there, I’m Melanie, and my husband Michael and I are trying to purchase our first home. We have come up short of this goal time and time again. Life is messy. A little about us, we met in 1991 and fell quickly in love. We married in 1994 and moved to the island with our 4-year-old daughter Morgan. Michael worked as a carpenter for over 25 years and we decided that one of us would stay home with our daughter and now two boys, Hayden and Henry. I did the odd job here and there, cleaned houses, and babysat lots of kiddos in our community, where our friends became family. We rented some incredible, albeit funky trailers and homes over the past 25 plus years and each one we made beautiful memories in. I take pride in making a comfy home. We have never had a lot, just enough.

In the midst of raising young humans and making ends meet things took an unexpected turn for my husband. In 2010 Michael’s career came to a screeching halt. He was no longer able to function, let alone work. He was hearing voices, sounds, and spiraling between crippling panic attacks and debilitating depression. This was terrifying. Here we were renting a home, bills to pay, raising our children and my husband’s brain had been hijacked. It took a while to figure out what was going on. Eventually, after much therapy and untangling of traumatic events we attributed this sudden onset to a Traumatic Brain Injury he suffered at 13 years old from a violent attack. He was chased and then beaten in the head with a baseball bat, repeatedly. Causing him to be in and out of the ICU and needing to learn to speak again. To this day, we are still trying to obtain his medical records from Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati Ohio. Trying to obtain pre-digitized records is nearly impossible.This traumatic brain injury as well as his genetic predisposition from a father with paranoid-schizophrenia, led to an intense psychotic break.

As the symptoms worsened, I had to do something. With the support of some dear friends who are now my family, I decided I needed to go back to school. I took out every loan available and applied for scholarships. We used my homework as "work" to get unemployment benefits and food stamps. I worked hard. I babysat and cared for my own children during the day and in the evenings brewed a pot of coffee for studying that lasted until 2 or 3am. For five long years. Learning, babysitting, cleaning, homeschooling and caring for my husband. I graduated from Washington State University with my Bachelor’s Degree in Human Development with concentrations in Psychology and Women’s Studies. With my education I worked in a field that I remain passionate about. I worked as a community advocate for victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. This was hard work. Often traumatizing, yet always worthwhile. I will always be an advocate.

In 2016, I began working in a stable job where I could utilize my education. The work I do today is often traumatizing and challenging. And, I love it. I’m deeply invested in my community and desperately wish to put down roots. Over time dealing with such a significant unraveling of our world, we have depleted our small pool of resources and this has led me here. I am committed to paying forward any and all we receive. All the love, kindness and generosity... everything.

Our dream is to be able to put a down payment on a home and finally feel rooted within our beautiful community. Thank you for listening.