OSCEOLA, Wis. — Usually a ribbon cutting celebrates construction of a brand new place, but Saturday the Hove family celebrated the opportunity to stay in a house where they already live.
"End of April 2020, I was diagnosed with breast cancer," mom Meagan Hove explained. "Then in November of last year my husband got sick with COVID and unfortunately passed Nov. 21 so we're coming up on the anniversary… He was our rock."
Meagan and Josh Hove were married for 14 years. Their three young daughters are Maddie, Sophia and Ellie. With medical and funeral bills piled onto mortgage payments, life was suddenly challenging. However, the community refused to let them lose the home they moved into around two years prior.
"Our dear friends and pastors Matt and Tara Hayton had this crazy dream to try to support our family and love our family through this in a practical way and that was to pay off our house," Hove said.
Lead pastor Matt Hayton of Cedar Bend Church says the community came up with $231,147. An organization called Dare to Be also gave $10,000 toward the goal of buying their home. Currently around $40,000 remain to pay off the home.
"Lord Jesus I'm so thankful that you are faithful even in the lowest moments of life," Hayton said in a prayer during the ribbon cutting ceremony.
"Being in a small town, everybody kind of looks out for each other," Hayton later told KARE 11. "Josh is one of my very closest friends… Josh and I ended up being in ten different moving trucks together and then when he passed away, I just wanted to give him one final gift because the last moving truck we were in together was moving him into his home."
There is one more gift: a nonprofit coffeehouse located at the new downtown campus of the church. Hayton says before Josh passed, the plan was to donate proceeds to substance abuse help efforts in St. Croix Valley. Now with Meagan's blessing, it will also help widows and orphans. It was also renamed the Josh Hove Memorial Mission Coffeehouse.
"We are insanely blessed with an amazing, amazing group of people around us," Hove said. "It's humbling."
The grand opening of the Josh Hove Memorial Mission Coffeehouse will be held Saturday, Dec. 3.
Donations to further help the Hove family can be made online.
The church community also seeks 500 families to commit to giving $50 a month or a $600 one-time payment to help buy a home for another family experiencing tragedy.
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