Joe Schaler left legacy of selflessness, service in providing homes for Logan County veterans (2024)

LINCOLN— When Scott Jackson lost the home he was renting after the COVID-19 pandemic, he had nowhere to go.

Jackson, a veteran of the U.S. Army who lives on a fixed income, was at the end of his rope with no one to turn to, he said.

That is until his daughter connected him with Joe Schaler, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and chair of the Central Illinois Veterans Commission, which builds "tiny" homes for veterans.

Jackson was the first person to receive a home, at no cost, from the nonprofit, said Marsha Fernandes, co-chair of the CIVC.

With strong emotions coloring his words, Jackson said his daughter "nominated me for a home and Joe Schaler ... met me at the Guest House coffee shop, and we talked.

"And I told Joe originally that, you know, I didn't feel like— well, I told him I thought there was a lot of people out there that were worth it a lot more than me," Jackson said.

Words catching in his throat, he recalled, "And Joe said that — I was just as much worthy as anybody else."

Shaking the emotions off, he continued, "Anyway, long story short, I was accepted. And here I am. And it was a godsend."

Volunteers built Jackson's home in 10 days, Fernandes said, including all the framing, roofing, wiring, painting, installing appliances and even stocking the fridge and cupboards before handing the keys over.

"The day I walked in ... I was overwhelmed," Jackson said. "This is my home. And, you know, I love it."

To date, the CIVC has built five homes in Lincoln for veterans who needed them— at no cost to the veterans themselves— and has broken ground on two more in Atlanta, Fernandes said.

Those two in Atlanta will be completed by the end of the summer, she said, but they will be the first ones built without Schaler at the helm, as he died May 29.

Schaler leaves behind a legacy of volunteering, care and love for his community, and duty to his fellow veterans.

His dedication to community service was so great, in fact, that no one person can fill his shoes, Fernandes said.

"Someone said, after we lost Joe, that it would take a platoon to replace him," she said, "and that is a true statement."

Building homes

Fernandes first connected with Schaler when the two were volunteers in the Marine Corps League detachment #1336 in Lincoln, she said.

She organized fundraisers for several of the local veterans organizations, Fernandes said, and eventually joined the CIVC board.

All five plots of land the nonprofit owns have been donated to them, Fernandes said.

"We haven't purchased a piece of ground yet," Fernandes said.

There are currently two plots with five homes in Lincoln, one plot with two homes being built in Atlanta, and two plots in Lincoln upon which CIVC plans to build eight more homes, she said.

While Jackson's home was built in a 10-day sprint, the rest of the houses take a little more time, she said.

"On a Saturday, they have like a general 'barn raising,' if you will," she said, "where they take somebody that's got some carpentry experience and have them be the lead ... then the drills come out and everything gets drilled in place.

"And the siding goes on. The roof goes on, and all the interior decorating (is) all on standby mode, ready to move in," Fernandes said.

They even make sure to have pet food ready if it's needed, she said.

Jackson's home is just shy of 600 square feet, but all the others are around 680 square feet, Fernandes said.

To date, all the homes they have built have a single bedroom with a full bathroom and kitchen.

The two future lots in Lincoln allow CIVC to be flexible in case "there's a need for a veteran that may have a family or children, and we can reconfigure the current floorplan to accommodate a second, smaller bedroom,"Fernandes said.

Seeking purpose

Sara Sundra is the clinical staff leader for the regional burn center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

She is from Illinois, though, and Schaler was her stepfather.

"He helped raise me in a lot of ways," Sundra said. "We were very close."

So close, that "(Schaler) and my dad both walked me down the aisle at my wedding," she said.

Schaler married Sundra's mother, Melanie Buchanan, on New Year's Eve in 2006.

The two became "professional volunteers" in the early 2010s after he retired, Sundra said.

"Once he was retired, he had more time; he got involved with the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the American Legion and the VFW," she said.

But Schaler was active in the community long before that, Sundra said, volunteering with his church and even umpiring local youth softball games.

After Sundra's mother died in 2019, Schaler, and his four pets, moved into the home Sundra and a childhood friend rented with their two pets in Nashville, she said.

"It was our, like, our little sitcom," Sundra said, "like, three of us and all the animals in the house. And then COVID happened, so it kind of worked out to where he wasn't alone."

It was in Nashville that her stepfather started to look for his next mission, a life purpose, she said.

"That's something that he really— we — talked about a lot ... he was a Christian man. So he was very much like, 'God kept me here for a reason, I need to find my reason.'

"And I think that's really when he kind of ran forward with the veterans, and I think that's where he found that purpose," Sundra said.

Cost of business

When Schaler and Fernandes first started working together to build these homes, they were projecting $45,000 each, she said.

"Now, they're close to $90,000 because of the cost of lumber," Fernandes said.

Fundraising for homes, while a full-time job, draws immense public and private backing, said CIVC Board Member Annie Coers.

"The community support we have is crazy," she said. "The amount of people that want to give and help and make this keep flourishing— I don't even know that we could sit here and name all of them. There is that much local support for what we do."

Local small businesses and individuals consistently donate funds, and other businesses and contractors volunteer and donate their time and labor to build the homes from the foundation up,Coers said.

Once the home is built, it remains the property of CIVC for a decade, and the veteran occupant enters into a contract with the nonprofit, Coers said.

"It's like a contract for deed where they have to live in it for 10 years and abide by the rules of the upkeep, maintenance— nothing destructive happening to it," she said. "And then, at the end of that 10 years, they are gifted that property."

CIVC maintains insurance for the property, and the veteran is only fiscally responsible for renters' insurance and property taxes, unless they are exempt because of a disability status, Coers said.

Because CIVC maintains ownership of the home, if an occupant decides to move out or needs a larger property for whatever reason, "we've got the ability of gifting it to the next veteran in need," she said.

Moving forward, looking back

Schaler may not get to see how far his work has expanded, but the people he affected are carrying his torch.

On Thursday, June 27, a few dozen friends, colleagues, volunteers and beneficiaries of his work at the CIVC and in Logan County gathered at the corner of Sixth Street and South College Avenue for a short ceremony and dedication to the late Joe Schaler.

"He was just a fine man who cared about everyone in the community," said Illinois State Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason.

Turner and Schaler had worked together for years, first meeting when she was Logan County clerk, she said.

Schaler was "just a wonderful human being, and we are all blessed by knowing him."

Sundra attended the ceremony via video call.

While her stepfather did not necessarily enjoy the spotlight, she said he would have appreciated the attention to his mission.

"He had this thing where he just, kind of leaned back and put his hand on his stomach, and he's like, 'Wow,' and just nod his head," Sundra said. "And that's, kind of, how I think he would take it in."

Grieving the death of a loved one is never easy, she said, but this community helps.

"I've always been very proud of him, and I love him a lot. And seeing all the other people come together, showing how much they love him, too— it's just, it's not as isolating as sometimes death and grief can be, which is nice."