A New Home for Julie

Hello! My name is Brianne Montes, and I am Julie's oldest sister. I am a wife to my amazing husband of 19 years, Lupe, the mother of 8 children aged 4-14, a step-mother of 2 adult daughters, a sister, a daughter, an aunt and above all, a faithful, Catholic woman. We set up this Go Fund Me page to assist us in providing a long-term home for Julie.

As many of you know, Julie has some extraordinary abilities, including making people smile, a contagious love of music, and the ability to endear herself to just about everyone who gets to know her. Julie also has been living with significant physical and intellectual disabilities, including cerebral palsy and epilepsy, for her entire life. She is dependent on her family and the wider community to assist with basic physical and social needs that many of us take for granted. Although there are several local and county resources for individuals with special needs similar to Julie's, we, as her family and advocates, have come to believe that these resources do not meet her needs in the same way they have in the past. Julie's community living arrangement ended quite suddenly around Labor Day 2021.

Although Julie's living arrangement ended quite suddenly, Lupe and I had been thinking and praying about how we could serve Julie differently for many months. We believe that God has called us to take Julie into our loud, busy, loving, joyful home to be a part of our daily lives and provide her with a stable, long-term home that will meet her needs for the rest of her life.

Since we decided to move forward with this plan, we have been busy planning the conversion of our garage into an apartment for Julie and applying for state and county licenses to be able to provide services for her in our home. Although we are very close to completing the licensing process with the state and county authorities, the garage renovation is just getting underway. Demolition is set to start on January 31, with an estimated completion date of the first of April. This new apartment will provide Julie with an accessible, open living space, two bedrooms and an accessible bathroom that will accommodate the bathtub lift she used in our parents' home for many years.

This renovation is not only an absolute necessity for Julie's care but quite an unexpected financial challenge for our family. It has also been complicated by the volatile supply chain and inflation issues affecting our world at this time. Lupe and I have refinanced our family home to provide a big part of the required capital for the renovation, but we are still a little short on the construction budget. We will also need to provide Julie with the comforts of home like furniture, appliances, and bathroom/bedroom necessities.

We humbly ask for any help you can provide to make Julie's new home a special place for her to live her life. Julie has touched many lives in her 36 years on this earth, and I believe that anyone who has gotten to know Julie can see God shining through her. Any amount would help, and I hope to keep everyone updated on the progress of the renovation and Julie's new life with us out here in the country through social media.

Finally, your prayers for this transition have already been so helpful. Please continue to keep our family, and Julie in particular, in your prayers. We are so thankful for your loving support of this new chapter in our lives.