All hands on deck for veteran artist and wife

Everyone experiences peaks and valleys.

Renowned artist and disabled Vietnam veteran John Jennings and his wife Sandy Jennings are well aware of the blessings they've experienced throughout their lives. They've always taken great joy in reciprocating those blessings and helping others.

“We have always been the givers,” Sandy said. "We donate to nursing homes, everybody in the rooms has a signed print, children’s hospitals, Ronald McDonald House. We do that kind of stuff, but now we’re in a place to graciously receive. It’s easier to give."

“We’ve been so blessed in our lives with so many things,” John said.

The Post Falls couple came up against one of life's valleys earlier this year. They received notice the home where they've lived for more than nine years had been turned over from a landlord with whom they had a good relationship to a property management agency.

The new lease required an extra security deposit, new fees to keep their dog in the home and no guarantee rent would not increase. The couple, who appreciate their privacy, also could not be ensured they would have a 24-hour notice for when someone at the agency wanted to show the house to potential buyers.

“Reading everything that was on there, we couldn’t go ahead and sign the lease," Sandy said. "All these things add up, and we knew it just wasn’t going to work for us."

Sandy is a part-time caregiver outside of the home. John is disabled and experiences such extreme pain throughout his body he is sometimes unable to leave his bed.

“When I have a bad day, I’m using a walker,” he said. “On a really good day, I’m on a cane.”

John was a reconnaissance photographer and served in the Army for four years. He saw combat and survived being bayonetted. He also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“When Fourth of July comes around, I am just a basket case,” he said. “I was in some battles in Vietnam, but I choose to try and look at the good in life. There’s not enough time for us on this earth to not have the good things in life evolving.”

Priced out and uprooted, the Jenningses had to find a new home and a way to move out within a quick timeline.

“We were at our wits' end," Sandy said. "My husband was having all these health problems, this and that. We came short of money."

Sandy, as tough as the veterans in her family, did what she needed to do — she went to the Post Falls American Legion Post 143 and asked for help.

AMERICAN LEGION STEPS UP

Adjutant Tim Shaw immediately sprung into action when Sandy came to the post.

"They had to buy this house so they could move," Shaw said. "It ate up a lot of the cash they had on hand and they had to pay closing costs out of pocket. This put a big strain on their cash flow."

She and John found a home, with the help of a loan through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and a real estate agent determined to help them get a roof over their heads.

"In the midst of the absolute worst time to find a house,” John said. "He helped us to do that.”

Then, the daunting task of packing and moving nearly a decade of their lives. With John's condition not permitting him to even grab or lift things, Sandy was on her own.

Not for long.

Shaw called several local moving companies to ask for assistance.

"I was on my last phone call for movers and in the back of my mind I'm thinking, 'The next phone call I make is to Sandy telling her I’ve got nothing,'" Shaw said.

Enter Post Falls company Hakuna Matata Moving, owned by Cody Lawson.

Shaw gave Lawson the down-low on the Jenningses’ situation and Lawson was in. Hakuna Matata is helping with the move, free of charge.

“Cody calls me back and I tell him the story and he says, 'I’ll do it,'" Shaw said. "I said, 'You will not regret this.'"

In mid-June, Lawson and his team began carefully packing John's art prints, which have been stacked in the couple's basement for some time. John is an oil and acrylic artist who creates marine masterpieces and spellbinding seascapes that transport the viewer to colorful scenes filled with animals, sunsets, palm trees and more.

These prints of John's works, which are a revenue source for the family, require loving care in transport. Lawson and his team carefully packed the stacks on a pallet to ensure no prints or lithographs were damaged.

Lawson said he wanted to help because he knows what it feels like to be stuck.

"You reap what you sow,” Lawson said. "You give a little and it comes back full circle. I believe in karma."

He said it's important to support locals.

“With how crazy things are, you can’t forget your locals,” Lawson said. “A lot of locals are struggling, especially with the housing market. It’s sad to see. You just help out where you can, because I’m sure someone definitely needs it.”

HOUSING CRISIS AFFECTS EVERYONE — EVEN VETERANS

The Jenningses have been clients of Newby-ginnings of North Idaho for several years, through which they have become good friends with Newby-ginnings founder and executive director Theresa Hart.

More than 5,000 families are enrolled in Newby-ginnings, which provides household items and basic essentials for military and veteran families. Soaring housing prices are crushing many of those Hart's nonprofit helps.

"We have helped a lot of people," she said. "I had a conversation with someone just this week. They said their rent went up $500. How can they legally do that to a family? These families are getting priced out and they have nowhere to go. They can’t afford their rent, let alone a new place, when you have a security deposit, first and last month's rent.

"We work with a lot of homeless families," she said. "We have families living in their vehicles or in campers. It's terrible."

Hart said Newby-ginnings helps up to 10 newly homed veterans each week, consistent with what it has seen since it was founded in 2013.

It's the inability to help with current housing needs that frustrates Hart the most.

"When we have a veteran family in need, whether it be in need of housing of furniture or clothes, if it's something we can't offer, I love being the hub. This is a place they can come and we can get them connected with someone on the other end of the line that can help them," Hart said. "With housing, I can't do that. With housing I feel helpless. We do have emergency financial assistance, but it's very limited. I don't have $1,800 I can give them to get them into a place, and that’s where a lot of them struggle."

She said she loves that those who are able are helping John and Sandy in their time of need.

"We are a team," Hart said. "When I see other organizations or businesses stepping up, I feel like they're joining the team. It is so awesome when you have someone you can rely on."

She said not one person or organization can do it alone.

"But when you have a whole team of people tackling these issues, it's encouraging, and it makes me super, super proud of our community. That’s the bottom line."

ALWAYS LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

Lawson and his team will return to pack and move the rest of John and Sandy's belongings before they are required to leave their home at the end of July.

"I don’t know how we’d do anything without Tim and the American Legion," Sandy said. "He coordinated all this. I want to cry.”

John said one of the most important things to come out of this whole situation is how it has turned a spotlight on what it means to help others.

"That’s so important to me," John said. "I’m so very very grateful, and thankful.”

While sitting out on his back deck, visiting with Sandy and Shaw, John shared how much it means to him to help others and be sunlight in their lives.

“Any little thing I can do to shine a little ray of sunshine in someone else’s life," he said. "They do that for me all the time, and I’m more than thrilled to be able to help others."

He also shared his perspective on getting through the tough times, quoting an original poem.

"What always was will never be if you can change the things you see,” he said. “That’s a point of being positive."

The Jacklin Arts and Cultural Center is planning to host an art show exhibiting John Jennings' works Sept. 23 and Sept. 24. The JACC will donate the space. John and Sandy will receive all proceeds from the show.

"I believe the arts are healing, uplifting and necessary," JACC director Darla Dreyer said. "The JACC is helping a local artist. It's what we do."