A hurting family is getting help from the Lawrence County TN community. You can help too. Links and more information can be found below. 

From the Lawrence County Advocate newspaper:

Tommy Schankweiler III shot and killed his father, Thomas Schankweiler Jr. March 21, after a typical day full of threats and abuse to Tommy, his three siblings, and their mother. The elder Schankweiler suffered from bipolar disorder, a mental illness that causes unpredictable and extreme mood swings.

The Tommy Schankweiler Jr. family has resided in Lawrenceburg, TN for roughly three years. Tommy and Sandee Jo, and their four children, Tommy, Timmy, Tonie Jo, and Tayler moved from Florida to this beautiful Tennessee community to slow down and raise a family. James Crocker, president of Waterblasting Technologies, was a schoolmate of Mr. Schankweiler and after hearing about the tragedy he had an idea. This quote is from the website dedicated to "Project Fresh Start":

Their story is a long one and this website is likely not the best venue for discussing its’ details. However, with Tommy's untimely passing, their family, friends, church and community are coming together to “plug in” and create a new set of surroundings and a “fresh start” by completely renovating their existing house. . . . . .I fully believe that a complete overhaul of the house they are occupying would have an incredible long-term impact on this courageous family.

The project took place from June 30th to July 5th.  The family was picked up in a limo on Monday and wisked off to Pigeon Forge TN for a week long vacation while the small army of volunteers worked on their house.

The renovations to the Schankweiler home by the volunteer team of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, roofers, stucco, landscape and decorating specialists was completed on schedule. (See "Project Fresh Start" and "Project Fresh Start completed" articles on SpotLightVT.com.) All that was left was the "big reveal". A modified version of ABC's Extreme Makeover, Home Edition reveal was used. Instead of moving a bus, the team used a tractor, owned by "Buttermilk" Wisdom to hide the home from the family. When they were in position we all yelled "Buttermilk, move that tractor!"

It was very rewarding to see the looks on the family's faces and the obvious appreciation that they had for all the hard work that was put in by project coordinator James Crocker, 100+ very talented volunteers and 40+ businesses who donated labor, materials or gave a steep discount on materials.

For the volunteers, lots of new friends were made and the experience was priceless. I wound up on the four-member electrical crew headed up by Trevor Hamby of Hamby Construction and Electrical. Also on the electrical crew was Richard McGill, who drove his RV 550 miles from Ohio just to help with this project. Josh Ray was from much closer, only driving three miles each day to the project. It was amazing to see how people from five states and on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line worked together.

The other big reward was seeing the results of the team's labor. The new kitchen and dining area is absolutely stunning as is the rest of the home. In addition to working on the electrical systems in the home, I was priveleged to do a virtual tour of the Schankweiler home including scenes before and after work started. I placed the before and after scenes consecutively where possible to help readers see the impact of the renovations.

The Tennesseean newspaper had a front page story on Monday featuring Project Fresh Start titled "Family's tragic year turns hopeful". The newspaper also made a brief video of the Schankweiler homecoming.

Brett Weaver

Middle TN Virtual Tours