About Grace Cornerstone Foundation

Corporate Bios

David Johnson and Darrell Reader attended church together but had never "officially" met each other. Their church building was in need of repairs and updating, especially the bathrooms and the kitchen. In the Fall of 2009, Darrell agreed to the work for the church on a volunteer basis. When he started the work, he realized that it was going to be a two man job.

Darrell asked the pastor, Rick Anthony, if he knew anyone who might be willing to help. It was a huge undertaking and commitment. Due to the amount of work to be done, it would take months to complete. Someone was needed that could commit weeks or months to the job, who knew how to perform the work and would have the tools to do the work necessary. Since it was a relatively small church, it seemed unlikely that anyone would be available. However, Rick suggested that Darrell call Dave. Dave readily agreed to come out and help.

There are many aspects of the project, including painting, demo, cabinet installation, laying tile, plumbing and so on. While working on these things, Dave and Darrell struck up a deep friendship and realized that they had quite a bit in common, including a love of working around the house doing any sort of repairs or fixing up. When the work at the church was complete, they continued to talk and work together, doing construction projects for people. They also, when allowed by their wives, played golf together.

During a round of golf, Darrell told Dave about his family history. He told Dave how both his grandfather and father were pilots in the Air Force and both were killed in plane crases while on active duty. Darrell's grandmother was a 27 year old widow with four children below the age of seven and Darrell's mother was a 21 year old widow with a one year old baby and pregnant with another. Darrell told Dave that when his grandmother and mother were younger, they were fortunate to have family around to help them with household repairs that they could not do themsleves. As Darrell grew older, and his mother or grandmother were not able to handle some things, he would help them with home repairs.

Dave and Darrell started talking about the other families that have lost loved ones in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan or elderly folks that do not have family around to help them. It must be incredibly difficult for them to take care of their home. During that conversation it struck Dave and Darrell, why couldn't and why shouldn't they help these people? They decided to form an organization to do just that, to help the elderly, military and cash strapped families take care of their homes.