Air Force veteran's Park Forest home gets thousands in repairs through Cook County program
Mark Kellogg and his wife, Keisha, were looking at taking out a hefty home equity line of credit to pay for thousands of dollars in repairs at their Park Forest home.
But the U.S. Air Force veteran didn't have to pay a dime for $30,000 worth of work, completed this spring through a Cook County program that repaired homes of 30 military veterans, including homes in other south suburbs.
At a news conference outside Kellogg's home Tuesday, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the program was meant to make veterans' homes 'more accessible, safer and more secure.'
'Our veterans have given us so much,' she said.
Launched in 2023, the Veterans Home Repair Program tapped $1.25 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Along with Kellogg's home, the county program repaired the homes of veterans in Chicago, Blue Island, Calumet City, Dolton, Homewood, Lansing, Matteson and Richton Park.
Interior and exterior work was done on all of the homes, with costs ranging from $15,000 to $45,000, according to the county.
At Kellogg's home, work included new gutters, a new furnace and water heater, repainting six rooms and replacing a concrete patio in the backyard.
'When we bought the house we didn't know rain pooled against the back of it,' he said.
The county program replaced the concrete patio and regraded the soil underneath so that storm runoff is directed into drains in the backyard. Kellogg said fixing that problem alone would have cost him $16,000.
'I am extremely greatful I was chosen to participate,' Kellogg said.
He said he and his wife have lived in the home since 2010.
Kellogg was in the Air Force from spring 1988 to winter 1992. He is commander of the American Legion post in Park Forest and works for the village's Public Works Department.
He grew up in Harvey and has six siblings, and his family moved to Park Forest during his senior year of high school. After graduating from the since-closed Rich East High School in 1987, he joined the Air Force.
Kellogg said he comes from a military family and that his father and a younger brother both served in the Air Force, and other relatives, including a grandfather, uncle and cousins, were in other branches of the military.
He said he applied online last December for the county program and was told in March he'd been selected. All of the work was done by the end of April, he said. The 56-year-old Kellogg and his wife have been married 22 years and have three daughters.
The county worked with Rebuilding Together Metro Chicago, which relies on volunteers to repair homes and other buildings in the Chicago area. Since 1991, the organization has repaired 1,900 homes and 285 facilities operated by nonprofits, according to its website.
Wanda Ramirez, Rebuilding Together's president and chief executive, said there are a 'growing number of homeowners who cannot afford to make repairs' needed for them to stay in their homes.
Without the financial resources needed, Ramirez said the many veterans 'may have to live in substandard housing.'
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