Community comes together to build group home in Ronan

On the second weekend of August, several dozen volunteers swarmed the Jake’s House construction site, carrying boards, sweeping concrete, laying floor joists, rolling equipment around and installing a subfloor.

Other volunteers, like teacher Autumn Adams, worked in the kitchen, preparing snacks and meals, making lemonade and wiping down tables. Adams said community members have been so generous – dropping off food, making donations and visiting the site for a few hours to help.

The site is located on Jake Janssen Lane in Ronan and is a memorial to Jake, an autistic man, son of Rich and Julie Janssen and brother of Jenna Janssen. He died on April 5, 2023 at the age of 28.

The Janssens began the Jake’s House project after his death, but the seeds were planted in 2018. Rich and Julie wanted to place Jake in a group home but were turned away by state authorities. So the Janssens started a Proactive Living Fund “to find a place for our son, but also for other autistic or disabled men and women in Montana,” Rich said.

After some research, they found Farm in the Dell and visited the organization’s farm near Kalispell. They liked what they saw and contacted CEO Lowell Bartels.

Bartels and his wife Susan founded Farm in the Dell in the 1980s when they recognized the need to provide housing for autistic and disabled children and adults.

Although efforts are being made to get autistic and disabled people through high school, “we are not teaching them a trade or how to take care of themselves,” he said. “They need a place to live and work.”

Farm in the Dell offers such a place with animals, flowers, gardens and jobs.

Both Bartels were present during the blitz on the den, Lowell in the construction area and Susan helping in the kitchen and killing hornets.

The finished building will house four people, with a large common room and kitchen in the middle and bedrooms at each corner. People with autism appreciate having space, Janssen says.

As planned by general contractors Kole Cordier and Rich, the excavation work was completed and concrete poured before the construction blitz. It was hoped that the shell would be completed, and by the end of the second day the walls were already sprouting.

One of Jake’s House’s volunteers works on the floor joists with a nail gun. (Berl Tiskus/Lake County Leader)