Iron Houses’ Legacy of Helping Others
Iron Houses as they were in the 1970s
Betsey Vanden Berg remembers the fateful day, over 45 years ago, that changed her family’s life forever. She was in the fourth grade, coming home from school with her three siblings. Her Mom was upset and distraught. She’d gotten a call that her husband, Arthur, had been rushed to the emergency room with a terrible injury. He was on a home interior job, building his typical custom cabinetry and cutting a piece of wood with a table saw. Something slipped, sending his hand into the blade.
“It was such an awful, scary time for our family,” Betsey recalls. “He was self-employed so I’m not even sure he had health insurance.”
Arthur Van Enk, business owner, breadwinner, and father of four, had to go through a long year of surgeries and therapy to repair what was left of his hand. He lost his thumb and several tendons were severed and fused together with pins. His carpentry business of making custom cabinets had all but ground to a halt.
Betsey’s parents were stressed. Arthur knew he needed to bring in some much needed income as well as secure his family’s future. He needed to think long term. He sought the advice of his friends in the industry Building, and one of them suggested he buy some property in a growing Kentwood neighborhood and build some apartments. So Arthur and his wife got to work, securing loans, buying empty lots and hiring contractors to build what would become, not one, but three four-unit apartments.
“When they finished one, they’d rent it out and then start on the next one.”
She remembers being in middle school—Saturdays her Mom and her siblings would have to pitch in, maintaining the grounds. Her older siblings would mow the lawn and care for the landscaping, and she and her little sister would clean the vestibules and vacuum out the laundry rooms.
Betsey shows the pictures she took in the late 70s. She moved into one of the upstairs apartments when she married her husband Dave. “We lived there for five years.” Betsey laughs at the picture of her little Ford Pinto in the driveway. “We lived there from ’78 to ’83 as we saved money for our first house.”
Decades later in 2015, Betsey was watching the news and heard about Iron House, Guiding Light’s sober living community. She cried out to her husband, “Dave, that’s where we lived!”
Betsey and Dave Vanden Berg had already been supporters of Guiding Light. On a chance phone call with the Guiding Light Development Director, she shared the story of her Dad and his injury. “Dad’s thinking was always geared toward paying the bills for the next week or month, but God had this much bigger plan for him.”
Arthur Van Enk passed away in early 2001, and his wife passed away in 2009. Betsey is sure that both her parents would be thrilled to know that the buildings are being used to give men a second chance.
Betsey recalls a couple of verses that resonated with her Dad during his time of healing:
Romans 5:3-4: “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
In 2015, Betsey was invited to speak at the convocation and opening of the third Iron House. A poignant line she read was, “I know my Dad would be amazed and thrilled that God is using these buildings to now give other men a new chance to fulfill God’s plan and purpose for their lives.”