Save John Douglas from Foreclosure! Secure his Home & Future

Our dear talented, generous and loving friend, John Stevens Douglas, needs our help desperately. And he needs it fast!

The following will include John’s story, his current situation and what the goal of this GoFundMe is. Please feel free to read whatever you find necessary to learn about John and decide if his goals are something you feel you’d like to support. John appreciates your donation of any amount and all the positive thoughts you can possibly send his way.

A quick Snapshot of John’s current financial needs:

• Once this GoFundMe reaches $2537.02 John will be secure in his home. This has a deadline of March 31!!!

As of April 1, if we have not raised $2537.02 for John, he will be on the street!

• Once this GoFundMe reaches $3137.02 John will have water.

• Once this GoFundMe reaches $6272.98 John’s tax issues from 2011-2024 will be over.

• Once this GoFundMe it reaches $8272.98 John’s house will have been cleared out and interior will be repaired/remodeled.

• Once this GoFundMe reaches $13,272.98 John will have heat.

TOTAL GoFundMe GOAL IS $13,272.98

Once he’s been in the house through 2026, he may be able to take ownership. Until then he’ll be able to afford the ~$400/month to cover the utilities and property taxes on his own. This will also give him the opportunity to secure work and time to establish his traveling Night with John Stevens Douglas Show!

JOHN’S STORY:

I met John in 1987 when we performed together in Grand Rapids Circle Theater’s production of Little Shop of Horrors. He was a tall energetic young man loaded with talent who was living life as the son of John Douglas, Grand Rapids Press Film Reviewer. John had spent his childhood watching advance releases of films with his dad on their home reel to reel projector while his father wrote his reviews. John became enthralled with film making, specifically the film’s composers. He found work as a projectionist in our local movie theater and began a now 31 year stint as the Sunday night host of a WGVU radio show he created called Reel Music which celebrates the lives of movie music composers. This was not a paid position until January of 2024 at which time the station began paying him $25 a show. Ask John about any film going back to the silent picture era and he’ll tell you who composed the music, that composer’s filmography, stories about their lives, the history of the film, the casting, the obstacles, the quirks. He’s truly fascinating. John pursued his community theater ambitions and joined the casts of The Hatmaker’s Wife, Little Shop of Horrors, Puss and Boots, Thirteen Bells of Boglewood, Reynard the Fox, The Ghost of the River House, The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers, Mornings at Seven, Inherit the Wind, The Music Man, Arsenic and Old Lace, Rumors, The Children’s Hour and participated in the Actor’s Theater Apprentice Director’s Program. He also pursued his second love of art and graduated from Kendall School of Art and Design with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art and Drawing.

While in his mid thirties, John met the love of his life, Joanee Shreves who was 13 years his senior and who John would spend the next 15 years of his life with. Joanee was also a local community theater performer and worked as an attorney representing children and families in the Kent County Court system. After moving into Joanee’s childhood home with her, John found himself without work as theater’s converted their projection systems to an automated format and John’s skills and job became obsolete. Around this time, Joanee’s health began to fail and she faced years of heart surgeries, excruciatingly painful back problems and evidentially a battle with cancer. John became Joanee’s driver and fulltime caregiver as she continued to practice law and keep them financially afloat. Once Joanee became unable to work and things like their car and phone broke, they were unable to fix or replace them. Joanee died at home on September 1, 2020. Although she was an attorney, Joanee was in denial about the terminal nature of her cancer and had never settled her parents estate nor had she written a will. John found himself grieving alone in a house that was in Joanee’s deceased parent’s name and was not his, without a car, without a phone, without internet, without work and with only his cat, Dulcie, and his movies for company.

This was 2020. It was the height of Covid. To make phone calls, John had to walk half a mile to a shop where a friend worked and would allow him to use the phone. His only contact with humanity was the weekly taping of his radio show with his occational cohost, Micheal Smolinski, another theater friend who gave him a ride. John was stuck in isolation, grief and hopelessness. This period of his life lasted for eighteen months. I honestly don’t know how he survived without going mad. He has been suffering with symptoms related to post traumatic stress syndrome since then which have included a lack of hope, motivation, belief in himself, confidence, sleep, and optimism. This has paralyzed him in so many ways.

When a friend of Joanees, realizing his isolation, obtained a free government smart phone for John, he showed up on Facebook. I saw one of his posts and invited him to my home for a puppy shower and only then learned with horror what he had been going through and that he had been living only 10 blocks away from me the whole time! I began having him for dinner 2-4 times each week, took him to DHS where he qualified for an EBT food card and helped him enroll in our local Community Food Club. Another friend loaned him one of their cars and offered him work driving them to doctor’s appointments and such at $20 a ride. John was able to cover the gas, water and electric bills which were minimal. He learned that as long as the property taxes were paid each year he could remain in the home indefinitely with only the monthly utilities and taxes to cover. Then John’s vision began to fail in late December 2023. John kept this to himself initially fearful of what was happening. His compromised vision prevented him from making any movement forward in all aspects of his life. He evidentially became unable to drive and has been incapable of work of any kind for most of the last 6 months. After finding a Medicaid provider, John was diagnosed with cataracts, worse than 95% of the doctor’s cases and underwent two successful cataract surgeries in November and December of 2024. He can see again!

JOHN’S CURRENT SITUATION

• John had kept up with the property taxes until he accidently paid a newer tax bill and missed the previous year’s bill. If John can remain in the house through 2026, he may be in the position to take ownership of the property due to a “squatter’s” law. In the meantime, his monthly expenses would be nearly a third of current rental costs and allow him to live affordedly until he finds work.

• John is currently without water (a pipe burst and he’s been unable to afford to fix it and has been showering at a relative’s home and at my house)

• John’s without heat. His furnace (70 years old) has had issues every year which my partner Greg has been able to fix until this winter. Although the furnace itself works, the blower motor must be replaced and the work is beyond Greg’s skill set. John has managed to stay warm enough this winter with space heaters although at times he’s been able to see his breath (indicates 45 degrees or colder)

• The house is in disrepair and is packed with Joanee’s collections going back to her parent’s belongings. John will need a dumpster and our help clearing out the house in order to make necessary repairs and basic remodeling which John, Greg and I are prepared to coordinate.

• John needs to make a living. Although he is looking for full or part time work, he is also designing a one man show based on his radio show to promote at assisted living facilities, libraries, community entities with a working title, A Night with John Stevens Douglas. Once established, this, along with potential voice work and opportunities will secure John with a way to earn a living and build a life for himself.

JOHN’S GOFUNDME GOALS

• John’s IMMEDIATE need is for help with the property taxes! These must be paid by March 31 or the home will be foreclosed on and John with have to find housing.

2021 Delinquent Taxes- $2103.96

2022 Delinquent Taxes- $433.06

TOTAL DUE BY MARCH 31, 2025 $2537.02

2023 Delinquent Taxes- $2103.96

2024 Taxes- $1032

TOTAL TAX BILL

$5672.98 ($2537.02 IS DUE BY MARCH 31!!!)

• Plumbing repairs estimated cost $600

• Furnace repair/replace estimated cost $5000

• Clear out house and initiate repairs estimated cost $2000 (includes dumpster rental, dry wall repair, painting, carpeting, floor/roof repair)

TOTAL GOAL $13,272.98

God bless all of you for your donations!!! Theater people make up a very supportive community and I hope you will find it in your hearts to make a small donation and spread the word to help a valuable fellow performer, our gentle giant, John Stevens Douglas.