Bradley, the dad is 30, Marilyn the mother is 29 and their children are Stephen (14), Samantha (13), Stanley (10), Bradley Jr. (8) and Alan (7). Bradley supports the family by working at Parkside Meadows, a retirement home in St. Charles, in the maintenance department. Marilyn has also just been hired at Parkside Meadows in the housekeeping department.

The Rush family currently resides in a mobile home in St. Charles. The home is dilapidated to say the least and it is overcrowded, the roof is covered with a tarp because of a recent storm that blew off part of the roof. The family can’t cook on the stove if it is raining or snowing due to the leaking roof. The family has mold issues with their windows and bedroom wall. The mobile home is very overcrowded. The daughter’s bedroom is large enough for a twin bed and a dresser, without hardly any room to walk. The 4 boys share one bedroom with 2 sets of bunk beds.

The Rush family will be great Habitat partners. They take care of what they have the best they can. They are great neighbors and in fact, they cut the grass and take out the trash of a disabled neighbor and Marilyn babysits whenever needed.

When the committee asked what a Habitat home would mean to them, they said that they would love it so that they can have more room to play. They would have a kitchen that was safe to cook in and the boys were looking forward to having separate bedrooms so they weren’t so crowded. Most of all, the family will have hope, to get out of a potential dangerous, substandard living environment.