What Makes a Home

Jessica fondly remembers the house her father, Eric, built from the ground up — a place filled with love, safety and the warmth of family — where every corner echoed the joy of her childhood.

“It was more than just four walls,” she said. “It was a testament to his dedication to family, his love for us and the foundation of our childhood.”

Eric was known throughout Kunkletown, Pa., as the go-to neighbor you could count on — always fixing, building and helping others. To Jessica and her siblings, he was a quiet, dependable presence. Looking back, she understands now that his constant projects and woodworking weren’t just hobbies. They were his way of coping with grief.

Years earlier, Eric and his then-wife had suffered an unimaginable loss when their first child, a son named Daniel, tragically passed away in an accident at their family home.

Though that grief never left, they went on to raise three children in a home filled with love, faith and family traditions: holidays surrounded by Eric’s extended family, Sunday mornings at church and long afternoons on the property Eric built with his own hands.

When Eric and Jessica’s mother divorced, some things changed, but the values her parents instilled remained strong.

“My father’s hard work, my mother’s devotion and the strength of our community gave me a sense of resilience that I could come to rely on later in life,” Jessica said.

Life-Changing Fall

That resilience was tested when Eric fell from the roof he was framing, landing on his head.

“I remember everything, including the fall and the life-flight to the hospital,” Eric said.

Eric suffered a spinal cord injury, which left him paralyzed from the neck down. As someone who spent his life building homes and working with his hands, the news was life changing.

Eventually, Eric found a new home at Good Shepherd Home – Raker Center, one of Good Shepherd’s two 24/7 nursing long-term care homes in the Lehigh Valley. It was here in Allentown that Eric’s emotional healing and spiritual journey began to deepen when, a decade ago, members of the local Mennonite church started visiting Raker residents.

“What struck me about them and drew me toward them was their sense of humility,” Eric said. “They were kind and loving and showed me things that I never knew. It felt like peace.”

Eric began attending church weekly and quickly embraced the Mennonite faith and his church family. However, for Eric to attend fellowship lunch after service presented a challenge; someone needed to be able to suction his trach.

Good Shepherd respiratory therapists, Al and Richard, taught members of the church how to do it so Eric could join the lunches — meals like the ones he shared with his kids in their family home.

Finding Peace

Eric’s faith has helped him find peace with the struggles he went through in life. He reflects: “Jesus said to die to self, or to deny our own selfish desires and instead live for God and as God would, so that’s what I try to do.”

Through faith and his supportive home at Good Shepherd Home – Raker Center, Eric has found new ways to care for the people he loves, especially Jessica.

“My dad used to say, ‘I wish I could help you. I wish I could fix things around the house for you,’ because that’s how he took care of people,” Jessica said.

Now, Eric takes care of his daughter by encouraging her with his words.

“When I’m going to freak out, he … makes me feel worthy, validated, heard and seen,” Jessica said. “He reminds me [to] walk in purpose.”

Though Eric can no longer pick up a hammer or plane a piece of wood, the home he created for his children lives on.

And the one he’s found at Good Shepherd Home – Raker Center has given him peace, purpose and a new way to build.

This story appears in the Fall 2025 issue of Sweet Charity, a Good Shepherd publication.