Grant will finance well repairs

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By Mary Louise Speer | Sunday, August 31, 2008 |

Anna Schwenneker and her 4-year-old grandson, Caleb, live in rural Port Byron, Ill. (Andrew Link/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

PORT BYRON, Ill. — Anna Schwenneker stays busy working full time for New Choices Inc. and raising her lively grandson, Caleb, 4, in their cozy, rural home in Port Byron.

Caleb is a playful boy who lives with autism and mild mental challenges, and both grandmother and grandson have Long QT syndrome, a heart condition.

The family relies on a private well for their daily water needs, and Schwenneker never expected that June 12-13 rainstorms would fill the well to overflowing. Schwenneker tried turning on the faucet and discovered the water had shut off.

“The pressure tank tilted on its side and the points burned out, so there was no water,” she said.

She trekked outside through damp grass to the pump house and peered down into the pit. True, there was plenty of water but not where it was supposed to be.

Schwenneker isn’t crazy about the idea of climbing 10 to 12 feet down a ladder. “Every year in the winter I had to put a heat lamp (in there) for the 32-degree weather. But if it dropped any lower, it meant crawling into the pit and putting a heater in there,” she said.

Clambering down into the water to check out the situation wasn’t a good idea. Very possibly, Caleb would try to follow Grandma and she dared not risk that. So she called a friend who drove all the way from Dubuque, Iowa, to help out. Another friend came over to watch Caleb.

The two adults swathed the area around the pump house with sheets of plastic to keep the water from re-entering and searched for the electrical power source. “Are you sure that’s the one?” her friend asked as she pulled the breaker.

Their other concern was the possibility of the drinking supply getting contaminated from stormwater runoff. “He baled for hours, buckets and buckets of water,” she said.

Schwenneker and her ex-husband purchased the house about 21 years ago. The recommended place for the pumping equipment is inside the house where it’s less at risk for freezing up and other hazards, she said.

But the cost to move the equipment and repair the storm damage was more than she could afford while paying for Caleb’s medical needs and their living expenses.

Fortunately, Sonya Paddock, a caregiver support counselor for Alternatives for the Older Adult, recommended Schwenneker for an Unsinkable Spirit grant. The fund is paying to move the well equipment into the basement and fill in the old pit.

“I was just so thankful and so touched and moved,” Schwenneker said.

Alternatives for the Older Adult offers a support group for grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. “By talking to her, I learned about her circumstances of taking care of her grandson who is autistic,” Paddock said. “Even though it seemed like everything in her life was going wrong, she still had a smile in her voice.”

She added, “She still has a real good spirit about her and she’s not expecting a handout.”

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.