Loose Ends: A baby gate, and so much more

By Pam Hersh

Housing Initiatives of Princeton has given the word ‘gate’ a new lease on life — the same service HIP provides for humans.

‘Gate’ in the past few decades has become a dirty word. It started with Watergate, which opened the floodgates of ‘gate’ as a suffix to imply the existence of a scandal — everything from Pizzagate to New Jersey’s Bridgegate. And now there is Babygate.

Kingston resident Louise Kekulah wrote a letter to HIP board members about a gate, a baby gate that eloquently freed the term ‘gate’ from its negative demons.

The 24-year-old single mother, a Rutgers graduate who intends to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology, lives with her 1-year-old baby Malcolm in a Princeton Housing Initiatives “transition-housing” apartment in Kingston. She wrote the following to the HIP board:

Your commitment and hard work has not gone unnoticed, as a result, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the compassion you have all shown my son and me. I appreciate your gracious service of installing the child protective gate in our home. I was very excited and filled with so much joy when I noticed that the gate was installed. Therefore, I am writing this letter to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation for your dedication and enthusiasm you have shown us.

It is the little things that count and you all have exemplified how important it is to have a strong support team. For instance, when I received my citizenship I received a congratulatory card in the mail. There is absolutely no word in the dictionary to have expressed how I felt after opening the card and reading it. You guys are amazing and the best family anyone could wish for in this lifetime! HIP has made me feel completely loved. I will never forget how my life changed for the better after our first encounter with one another.

I am deeply humbled by the generosity of Housing Initiatives of Princeton in supporting Malcolm and me in other initiatives such as, putting a roof over our heads and ensuring that we become successful despite the turmoil life brings. Having a diverse group of educated women around me with knowledge and experience to confer with has made me feel so much more confident in this competitive world. I one day look forward to being in [a] similar position to serve others and give them just as much hope as you guys have given me.

The Babygate story is fodder for an inspiring religious sermon rather than a scandal-focused tabloid. Carol Golden, HIP chair, explained the wonderful simplicity of the baby-gate donation.

“Louise’s family liaison bought a baby gate before the baby Malcolm was crawling, because the HIP apartment is on the second floor, and we were worried about the baby falling down the stairs," Golden said. “Then as the baby began crawling, we knew the gate had to be put up as soon as possible. The husband of one of our board members determined that it wasn’t just a pop-in gate, and Louise might have problems with the installation. Carpentry was needed. I called the apartment complex where Louise lives and tracked down the handyman. Louise came home from work one day and found the gate installed.”

Kekulah said the gate and the support her HIP family gives here is a miracle, especially since she doesn’t have any relatives living nearby.

“HIP not only has provided housing that I could afford, but also provided an entire family for me,” said Kekulah, whose immediate family is in Liberia with other relatives scatted throughout the United States. “I feel very taken care of."

HIP came into her life at a point when she was determined to survive, but lacked a strategy to do so. Immigrating to America from Monrovia, Liberia, when she was 7 years old, Kekulah did very well in the public schools, graduated from Rutgers University with a double major in psychology and criminal justice, became a U.S. citizen in 2017, and was preparing to go to graduate school in pursuit of a career of “helping others.”

Suddenly, she found herself in a position of being the one who desperately needed help. She had a baby, whose father abandoned Kekulah and their child. Kekulah was renting one room in a house, and the arrival of the baby made this living situation unsatisfactory to her landlord. Existing on her salary as a clerk at QuickCheck, she had no idea where to turn other than to the internet. Searching for affordable housing, she came across Housing Initiatives of Princeton. “God answered my prayers,” she said.

Kekulah will turn 24 Oct 14, coinciding with HIP’s “Rent Party” benefit at which Louise and Malcolm will be celebrated. Also celebrated at the event will be the generous members of the community who lease housing to HIP for minimal return (tenants’ rents are based on the ability to pay). Housing Initiatives of Princeton’s Rent Parties provide an opportunity for neighbors to help neighbors, by donating money to support transitional housing, emergency rental assistance and wrap around supportive services, such as installing a baby gate.

Louise’s two-bedroom condo is owned by Gavin Thomas, who connected with HIP, when he, like Louise, was in his mid 20s, but in very different circumstances. Gavin became aware of HIP thanks to his mother Annie Thomas. She worked for 13 years as the parish administrator for Trinity Church Princeton, one of the organizations that played a pivotal role in the birth of the HIP initiative in 2001.

I was unable to talk to Gavin, who now lives in Washington DC, but did track down Annie Thomas.

Gavin on his 25th birthday was “so very fortunate to receive some funds from his grandparents,” Thomas said.

Although Gavin was reluctant to be a landlord of any sort, his mother, familiar with the HIP model, suggested that he could use his gift to purchase a residential property, lease it to HIP, and help provide some much needed relief to others, while simultaneously protecting the value of his gift.

“HIP tenants are the most responsible of tenants, and so I would recommend this model to anyone who is indeed able to offer this fantastic mission their support,” said Thomas, urging others to open the gates of their residential properties and welcome HIP clients.