Can I Be More…A Shed’s Journey

Can we truly be whoever we want to be, and do whatever we want to do? The easy answer is no, because then we don’t have to try and can place the blame elsewhere. Saying yes takes work, but the work is worth it.

Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy, but that seemed to be an impossible dream for a toy puppet. Through the story of Pinocchio we learn that dreams can come true through hard work, trial and error, and from the help of others.

The same can be said of a shed that wanted to be a house, but unlike Pinocchio this is a real story.

Our story starts years ago on the banks of a river with a company in full production…

As the company grew, they needed to keep people out, and so they built fences and hired security to regulate who and what came and went. A newly built guard shack was part of that change.

The shack was nice…

Good size, sturdy, well insulated, had AC, a heater, windows, gutters, and even cabinets. The security team used the guard shack as their work home for years, until the company remodeled and went with a new unit.

When that change happened, the shack was moved onsite and became a shed to store paints and chemicals. Employees found it easier to bring the pieces that they were working on to the shed, rather than going to the shed to get the paint. Pretty soon the shed became a paint booth.

As time goes by, that particular paint booth was no longer required, and it becomes a sign shop for the company. The problem with that was that employees started bringing in other items to get personalized, like getting their names on their hardhats. The sign shop wasn’t producing and getting behind, while all along the room was filling up with other items to be worked on.

The leadership team put a stop to that, and the sign shop sat empty and unused.

Then one day news came…

The sign shop would be destroyed. Taken apart and thrown away because it wasn’t being used and was taking up space.

Meet Bob…

Bob was an employee of the company for years, and had always liked the little building, but had never thought much about it. Bob was also an avid fisherman who had way too much fishing equipment (according to his wife) to keep in the garage.

When Bob heard the fate of the building, he has an idea. He reached out to his boss with an idea that would save the company time and money. Instead of creating more work for the guys on the team, why not let him take the building home.

With a big truck and a forklift, the old sign shop became a shed in Bob’s backyard. The shed housed all of Bob’s fishing gear, making Bob’s wife extremely happy.

As time goes on, things change, and the shed’s future was once again unclear. Bob sold his house, and the new owners wanted the shed gone before they took possession of their new home. They didn’t care how, they just wanted it gone. Bob loved the shed and couldn’t find it in himself to take it apart, and so he placed an online ad to help find it a new home.

Meet Nat and Fred…

Nat and Fred are a couple who love to give back to their community, and try to educate others that as a community we can accomplish anything. They have worked and helped homeless couples in the past, and have this idea that by creating a small home environment throughout the city that we can reduce or eliminate homelessness all together. The change has to start somewhere, and so they took it upon themselves to create that environment of change by altering the lives of a homeless couple by giving them basic human rights; a home to go to, an address, a place to keep their stuff, a place to get out of the weather, security, and most importantly a place to create a fresh start.

All they needed was a small house.

Nat answered Bob’s ad, and the shed once again had hope, but right away there were issues. How would Nat and Fred get the shed to where they needed it to go? And to make things worse, there was another person who also wanted the shed to turn into a dog run. Bob wanted Nat to have the shed; however, he would give it to the dog guy over tearing it down, and so it came down to race of who could get it first.

The dog guy had an idea, but Bob stopped him in his tracks. The guy was hooking the shed up to the back of his truck and yanking it out with a chain, which would destroy the shed, Bob’s fence, and the corner of Bob’s house. Bob said come back with a better idea because that’s never going to happen.

On the other end of this race was Nat who was going about things logically. There was a team that could do it, but it would require a crane and a ridiculous amount of money.

Meet BICO Transportation…

BICO is a small business that prides themselves on the ability to do the jobs that others cannot or will not do. They like the normal hauls, but the unique keeps their mind sharp. BICO was founded and started by husband and wife team Josh and Shannon Fendell, with an idea that there were lots of people who were being overlooked by carriers who didn’t care and who put ridiculous barriers on loads that they didn’t want to take, like thousands of dollars to move a shed.

Nat found BICO, and BICO responded. They would do it. BICO had their back against the wall with time, because they too wanted to beat the dog guy. They love animals, but turning a shed into a small house to help fight homelessness is a better reason then turning a shed into a dog run.

On the day of the move…

BICO shows up at Bob’s house, and they load the shed onto their trailer. It is official; the shed is on its journey to becoming a house.

The run from Point A to Point B goes down without any issues. BICO delivered the shed and moved into place per Nat and Fred’s vision.

Meet James and Beth…

James and Beth are a homeless couple that Nat and Fred would often see. James and Beth didn’t hold signs asking for handouts, they sold local newspapers and did odd jobs as a way to make money. Their life was hard. Their life was about survival with no place to escape from their reality; constantly harassed by cops, thieves, bullies, and people looking down on them. They had no place to hide from those people or the weather. Every aspect of their lives was exposed, and sleep left them vulnerable.

Nat and Fred asked James and Beth about their idea of small home living. There would be a lot of work in turning the shed into a home, but Fred and James were both skilled in the trades to make that possible.

James and Beth said yes.

The shed had always been more than a shed, and it was always meant to be more. Its journey through the years lead it to where it needed to be. It was saved so that Nat and Fred could realize a dream, and so that James and Beth could sleep safe and sound.

It is an honor to be a part of that journey…

Guard shack…paint booth…sign shop…shed…small house…home…

The dream is real.