The One Important Thing
Shortly after Amy and her husband Kevin LaDue were married in 1996, the young couple was dealt a devastating blow when Kevin was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Kevin, who was diabetic, had his kidney removed and underwent treatment. After several recurrences, the cancer finally abated.
“Kevin’s health problems were a part of our marriage, but we dealt with it,” Amy says, “and life was good.” They had two children, Jack and Katie, and their home was filled with love. Their family was enriched by the relationships they made within their community, and they made it a point to always give back.
Nearly twenty years after he was first diagnosed with kidney cancer, Kevin was diagnosed with leukemia. “I thought we had been to heck and back, but when that diagnosis came,” Amy says, “I was like, no way.”
Kevin received a full stem-cell transplant, which allowed him more time with his family. Two years later, however, Kevin passed away. Josh Geiger, Executive Director of Casa del Lago, presided over Kevin’s funeral.
The LaDue and Geiger families had been friends for years, and Amy says that Josh had been there for them throughout the whole ordeal. Shortly after Kevin passed away, Amy says she needed something to help her work through her grief, so Josh asked her if she would be interested in hosting a fundraiser at her house. She agreed and has been hosting fundraising events ever since.
“I was so grateful to have something to think about besides my loss. So what drew me to Casa,” she says, “oddly, was grieving. To give and stop thinking about yourself for a little bit, it’s huge.”
Casa del Lago is committed to serving the Bachman Lake community with quality, faith-based educational programs and counseling. We demonstrate God’s love to our neighbors by equipping them to face the educational, spiritual, and material challenges of their lives.
For the last six years, Amy LaDue has graciously opened her home to the friends and donors of Casa del Lago. Because of her hospitality, as well as her leadership on our advisory board, Amy has helped us raise the necessary funding for Casa programs such as Summer at the Lake, our summer reading camp with youth leaders.
Amy is proud to support the mission of Casa del Lago. The families we serve are her neighbors and friends, and she considers each and every one of these families a vital part of her community.
Casa del Lago families regularly confront barriers in their everyday lives, such as a lack of language skills, resources, family support, community contacts, or even a general understanding of how the system works.
Nevertheless, Amy says, “You are moved by their commitment to family, their commitment to hard work, and their commitment to making a better life for themselves. I watch their children and I see what the next generation can accomplish by being here. It’s extraordinary.”
Amy says that Casa is “the skills training, the language classes, the summer reading program. And it is also the community.”
“Everyone should want to lift up their community and make it a happy place for people to come and live, grow, and prosper.”
Amy’s daughter Katie has also become a cherished member of our Casa community. Shortly after her father passed away, Katie applied to work in Summer at the Lake as a camp counselor in our Summer Youth Corps.
Our summer reading camp provides reading enrichment and is designed to keep elementary school students reading throughout the summer. The hired camp counselors of the Summer Youth Corps are committed to making summer reading camp a tremendous success for each of our campers.
Katie spent two summers working as a camp counselor in the Summer Youth Corps, an experience that made a deep impression on her.
“While Katie was serving, she was being ministered to as well,” Amy says. “It really helped her grow in her faith. It was that wonderful chemistry that happens when you’re giving, but also when you’re receiving at the same time. That was a really important part of our story.”
Because of supporters like Amy and Katie, we are creating generational change for the families we serve by helping them overcome the barriers they regularly face. With the summer months right around the corner, we hope you will consider making a gift to Casa del Lago to help more families access a brighter future!
“The one important thing you need is community”
