East-side ministry helps neighbors repair their homes, workers rebuild their lives

Firm Foundations of Hope aims to help the unemployed and underemployed use their skills to help east-side Detroit community

DETROIT — Every year, Genevieve Kocourek goes on a spiritual retreat. In the fall of 2020, on the sixth day of her eight-day retreat, she had what she calls a “vision” from God.

“I was praying in this outdoor grotto area,” she said, when she received a calling to create a new ministry.

While Kocourek did not receive “clear instructions” at the time, she knew the final product would have something to do with serving the poor and doing home repairs. She also knew it would be in her home community on the east side of Detroit, where Kocourek is coordinator of evangelization for St. Augustine and St. Monica parish.

After meditating on the idea for nearly a year, in December 2021, she prayed more “intentionally,” and the pieces started to come together. In March of 2022, she registered her new charitable effort, Firm Foundations of Hope.

“The slogan of Firm Foundations of Hope is ‘Helping People Climb,’” Kocourek said. She and her board of directors accept home repair work requests from residents in the local community, staffing the jobs with workers who are unemployed or underemployed. The program is “transitional” with the goal of helping the workers get other jobs in the community.

Her boss and pastor at the time, the late Msgr. Daniel Trapp, was supportive of her ministry proposal.

“He was supportive of me following however God was calling me,” Kocourek said. Msgr. Trapp allowed Kocourek to hold a fundraiser for her ministry at the parish early on, and another fundraiser is scheduled for April 19 of this year.

The base location for the ministry is Kocourak’s own home, and her basement is their workshop. She was gifted the house from a neighbor she met while doing door-to-door evangelization with other parishioners at St. Augustine and St. Monica. The woman asked Kocourek if she would like to have the house she was vacating.

“I met her a week after her house had been partially damaged by a fire,” Kocourek said. “The one next to it burned to the ground. She was in need of help, and I connected her with the Capuchins. I ended up getting to know her pretty well over the next few years. Then she offered me the house. I was renting a flat at the time not far away. When she gave it to me, the timing was perfect.”

She took possession of the house in September 2019, and immediately began to see pieces of her vision coming together.

“I knew a mission was coming with it. But I didn’t have any idea what,” Kocourek said.

The house is very much a fixer-upper, and Kocourek, who had some background in construction from her former life as a Marine, started doing the work herself.

“In the Marine Corps, I was a combat engineer,” she said. “We did both demolition and construction. So I had some background in wood framing. I’ve learned a lot more about siding and drywall. I’ve gotten more work done on the exterior than on the interior. I’ve come a long way, but I still have a long way to go.”

In the process of fixing up the home, Kocourek began to receive offers of help from those around her.

“I had people offering to help me out a little bit when I first started," Kocourek said. "They would stop by and see if I needed help. I would pay them out of pocket, and then a few other people gave me some money to pay the neighborhood guys who wanted to help. They didn’t have the skills, but they had the desire. And they hadn’t held a regular job for very long.”

This experience helped clarify some of the aspects of Kocourek’s calling.

“I went ‘Oh!’ It was kind of like one thing happening at a time, and it just kind of gradually came together,” she said.

In 2023, Firm Foundations of Hope had 10 workers join its program. “We’ve had some turnover. People quit. Some we had to let go. But we’ve had three go on to be employed (at other jobs), and two are still employed full time,” she said.

Firm Foundations of Hope’s board of directors includes Robbie Marshall, who is vice president and one of the skilled team leaders for workers; Kyle Cascarelli, also a parishioner at St. Augustine and St. Monica with a background in youth ministry; and Daniel Rose, who is an accountant and serves as the ministry treasurer.

“We work together really well as a team,” she said.

Marshall was one of the first people who came to mind to help with the mission, Kocourek said. Before he retired, Marshall had run his own business called Rightway Construction, in addition to serving as a Detroit police officer.

“He had already been coming to our Bible study, which started meeting at my house. I needed somebody who was handy and could sort of train other people. I asked him and found out he had 30 years of experience in construction,” Kocourek said. “He was a big part of getting this ministry off the ground.”

More help is still needed, especially those with hands-on skills, Kocourek said. Ministry volunteers don’t need to be professionals in construction, but just some knowledge in the area.

“We need more project leaders — skilled volunteers who are handy and can do simple repair and construction work,” she said. “We are limited as to how many projects we can take on because we don’t have enough volunteers.”

But there is one specific trait the organization looks for in its volunteers.

“We want them to be practicing Christians,” Kocourek said because of the need to witness to those they are helping.

Kocourek said the ministry is trying to formalize its mentoring program.

“We want to help people grow in all aspects of life, so it’s not just the work,” Kocourek said. “We want to tailor the work to whatever they are interested in, not just construction. Sometimes it’s just helping with life skills, helping them learn to communicate effectively. It can be as simple as being able to get up in the morning and get to work on time.”

“We want to put them in a position to succeed,” Kocourek said. “We show them how to do something and give them space to do it on their own.” She remembers recently having to leave an employee on site while she ran to pick up supplies. While she was gone, the worker had done all the site clean up without being asked.

For those who are interested, Kocourek and her ministry will provide pastoral counseling. They also offer a Bible study and discussion group called Alleygroup that participants in the ministry can join.

“Alleygroup is especially aimed at spiritual ‘seekers’ or those who may not yet go to church," Kocourek said. "We've seen a lot of transformation there, including someone who started going back to church, got clean from drugs, and recently got married.”

Firm Foundations of Hope has received lots of requests for home repairs from the community. Projects so far include building a wheelchair ramp, pouring concrete for a walking surface and entryway steps, repairing a leaking roof and rotted soffits and fascia boards, and some plumbing and electrical work.

Xylia Hall is one of the recipients of their work. Hall said her garage was damaged by falling limbs from a tree on city property behind her home, and the organization helped her tear down the garage.

“It was collapsing, and I didn’t want it to fall on anyone,” she said.

“It’s been a wonderful thing,” Hall added of the help she's received from Firm Foundations of Hope. “I didn’t know where I was going to get help from. They were so kind and so thoughtful. They really took the load off of me. They gave me peace of mind.”

Hall also was especially grateful for the way the workers and team leaders offered to pray for her at the beginning of the project.

“I needed that prayer. That was so beneficial. It meant so much,” she said.

Those who are interested in volunteering for or in supporting Firm Foundations of Hope can call Kocourek for more information at (313) 451-0073 or email [email protected].