One year ago this month, we cut the ribbon at Karwick Village and gave new neighbors the keys to their homes. It was a day years in the making, made possible not by one person, one gift, or one good idea, but by a group of people in our community who kept saying yes.
A volunteer board leads Homeward Bound Villages. They aren’t paid to attend meetings, zoning hearings, send late-night emails, or spend Saturdays on a job site. They give their time, their professional skills, and, for many, their own funds. This fall, we sat down with them and asked a few simple questions: What does home mean to you? Why do you serve? Their answers make the strongest case we know of for what happens when a community decides to build homes together.
To each board member: thank you for your service and dedication to creating community through affordable housing.
Why they said yes
Homeward Bound began as a conversation between two friends from the Michigan City Exchange Club. Leigh Coburn and John Vanderwagen started with a shopping cart parade in 2013 to raise awareness of homelessness, incorporated Homeward Bound in 2016, and spent the next nine years pursuing land, zoning approvals, and funding until Karwick Village became a reality.
For Leigh, the turning point was a cup of coffee. A volunteer at his church’s overnight shelter invited him to meet two men who stayed there, both college-educated, both working until the bottom fell out. “I thought, you know, I’ve got the wrong attitude about the people that need help,” he said. For John, it went back to his father’s coal yard in Chicago and a hole in the fence his dad refused to fix, because neighbors who couldn’t afford coal needed to heat their homes in winter.
Everyone who joined them brought their own reason.
It takes all of us. – “One thing that I’ve learned is that no one organization can take care of all of the problems that people have. It takes a village,” said Dale.
It’s about more than houses. – “Homeward Bound is not just about houses, though. It’s about a community,” said Lisa, who also gives monthly with her husband.
Truly affordable housing is rare here. – Ed serves because Homeward Bound is the only effort he knows of that is “truly affordable to people who are residents of LaPorte County.”
It’s a key to someone’s future. – “To be part of Homeward Bound allows me to give other people that chance to become who they can be,” said Shirley.
Housing makes everything else possible. – “Without housing, we can’t complete our mission of working with people who are in poverty or people who are homeless,” said Becky Simmons.
Neighbors take care of one another. – Jim grew up in public housing after World War II, where “people took care of one another. It was a village. And that’s what we’re trying to do here.” His parents raised 15 foster children. “I like to help people. I was helped.”
Skills are a gift, too. – Dan, a real estate attorney, gives legal expertise along with his time. “It’s a real privilege to volunteer time and skill and expertise with the organization.”
Sandi Keller, Homeward Bound Village President, came to the board in 2020 after decades with Habitat for Humanity. She stayed because of the people. “What kept me there was just seeing people that work every day to help solve this problem,” she said, “and understanding that there are incredible community solutions for things that I really believe are just a basic human right.”
Community is what makes a house a home.
Look closely at this board, and you’ll see a steel industry executive, a logistics leader, a real estate attorney, a construction manager, a Salvation Army leader, and neighbors from across our churches and civic clubs. None of them could have built Karwick Village alone. Together, they did.
When Leigh visited a community in Austin, Texas, that inspired Homeward Bound, its founder told him something he has repeated ever since: “It’s not the size of the house, it’s the community.” That idea shaped everything, including the decision to make Karwick Village a rental cooperative where residents have a real voice in how their community runs.
Sandi remembers that shared work most clearly from the day she walked through the framed-in buildings with John, Leigh and one of the project’s first funders. “It’s not just checking off the accomplishment,” she said. “It’s that you deeply care about the connections to the people that you’re doing the work for and the people you’re doing the work with.”
And on move-in day, the board signed leases with the first residents inside their new homes. “To walk away with their key and their papers and to know that it’s theirs,” Sandi said, “each one of those was incredibly memorable and special in its own way.”
Thank you
To our board members: thank you for the meetings and the phone calls, for the expertise you give away, for the gifts you make quietly and for the patience it took to see this through. Thank you for believing Michigan City could be a place where everyone has somewhere safe to come home to. Karwick Village stands because you said yes.
Join them this holiday season.
The work isn’t finished. Karwick Village’s next chapter includes a Community Center, a place for residents to gather, share meals and do laundry close to home, and come together as one community.
“Giving to Homeward Bound in the holidays gives more than just a dollar. It gives a future.” — Shirley.
“It takes a nonprofit. It takes businesses, churches, volunteers, all kinds of donors, and people who are willing to step up and say, how can I help?” — Dale.
If you would like to learn more about the Homeward Bound Village Board, please visit our About Us page. We are currently seeking board representation with expertise in finance and construction development, as well as members of our faith community. If you are interested or would like to learn more about a board seat, please contact us directly at info@homewardboundvillages.org
