A year of service in Sycamore - Pay-It-Forward House in Sycamore has been there to help people

Joyce Mathey, director of Pay-It-Forward, looks at a book detailing the highlights of the house’s first year. Chronicle photo RENEE MESSACAR

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SYCAMORE - When Miki Seaborn's son, Dwight, was severely injured in a car accident Aug. 16, 2005, she put her faith in God. She believes God brought her son to Sycamore's Kindred Hospital and brought her to the Pay-It-Forward House. Both were blessings, she recorded in a journal about her two-month stay in the fall at the Pay-It-Forward House, at 719 Somonauk St. She gave the journal as a gift to the house. But without local visionaries, the house wouldn't exist and wouldn't have made it to is first anniversary, which volunteers and community members are celebrating today. In October 2004, Mary Lou and Philip Eubanks approached the city with an idea to create a home for people whose loved ones were being treated at Sycamore's Kindred Hospital. The hospital on Edward Street treats seriously ill people who are on ventilators. Patients come from as far as St. Louis and near the Mississippi for the hospital's specialized care. Their loved ones come from everywhere in the country. When patients arrive at Kindred, they likely have already spent weeks in other hospitals and their families often are financially strapped, said Joyce Mathey, director the of the house's board. Before the house opened, &#8220some people slept in their cars because they couldn't afford hotel rooms,” she said. The house gives them a place to stay, make small meals and relax for $5 a night. The Eubankses had stayed at a hospitality home themselves years ago when their daughter was ill and said having a &#8220homey” place to stay calmed them during a stressful time. They told the city they wanted to do something to help others in similar situations. Mary Lou Eubanks even had a house picked out - a 130-year-old home across a parking lot and Edwards Street from the hospital. The city approved plans for the home in December 2004, and the Eubankses and other volunteers got to work, painting, furnishing and fixing the home. The first visitor stayed a night there in March last year. &#8220It's been almost fully occupied since it opened,” Mathey said. &#8220It's been an exciting year.” The house hasn't seen any major problems, except when its sewer backed up into the basement the first week it was open, she said. Plumbers worked for free to fix it. In the first 11 months, the three-bedroom house hosted 120 families and provided 900 nights of rest for people. It has 100 trained volunteers to work in the home, 30 to work in the yard and people who make cookies every week for the guests. &#8220The people staying here are under a lot of stress and don't always feel like eating,” Mathey said. &#8220But few turn down fresh cookies.” Seaborn, from a small town near St. Louis, wrote in her journal that the cookies, the home's decor and the volunteers and other guests made the house feel like a home. She called it a &#8220safe, comfortable place to rest” after visiting her son at the hospital all day, every day during her stay. She has since returned home with her son, Dwight, who continues improving. Volunteers work to make it comfortable and try to keep in the house anything guests need to get by and occasionally relax, such as books, videos and comfort foods, Mathey said. The items and money to run the home came from fundraisers, grants and community groups. Cindy Smith, CEO of Kindred, said the house makes a noticeable difference for patients' families. &#8220They go in wearing dark clothes and looking exhausted and come out rested and wearing brighter clothes,” she said. With family members being more relaxed, the patients seem more relaxed, she said. Guests work to keep the home nice too. Some make donations after their stays or create memorial funds for the house after their loved ones' deaths. They also help take care of the home, completing daily chores of taking out the trash, vacuuming and dusting. &#8220It gives guests a sense of daily life,” Mathey said. &#8220And that's what we're trying to do.” Renee Messacar can be reached at rmessacar@daily-chronicle.com.