Montana's wildfire season came a little early this year, as a result of drier-than-normal and windy conditions. But, Bridger Aerospace (BA), a company based in Belgrade, Montana, was ready to answer the call with their two new CL-415EAF "Super Scooper" fire suppression aircraft.

The town of Calypso recently celebrated the expansion of two new bays to their fire station.

As the Rural American town continues to grow so does their volunteer fire department of 32 people.

Working with USDA Rural Development in North Carolina the town’s leaders secured a $248 thousand loan/grant combination to expand their firehouse.   

Johanna Diaz was a single mother living in an apartment when she got the opportunity to build her own home in Imperial, Calif.

“It’s easy to buy a house, but to build it with your own hands – it’s amazing,” Diaz exclaimed.

Diaz started building her home in January 2019 and moved in on May 27, 2020. 

“It was hard during summer, because it gets so hot,” she said. “But, we did it!”

Her and her family outgrew the apartment they were living in and needed another solution.

The Carrillo family had outgrown their two-bedroom house and started to look for a home that was more accommodating to their needs.  Jesus and Jasmine had hopes to buy a house in Petersburg where they currently lived and had grown up.  The Carillo's had heard about the USDA Rural Development 502 program and contacted the Lubbock Office to submit an application. 

Candice Hill is a single mother of three children. She was interested in pursuing owning her own home. Through the guidance and assistance received from T-Yamni, a one-stop homeownership program offered by Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate to tribal members, she was on the path to becoming a homeowner. T-Yamni connected her with USDA Rural Development.

It was nearly ten years ago when Jan Riggins suffered a big financial loss with losing her business and her home. In that timeframe, she moved at least seven times from various rental properties because the owners either sold the homes or moved back to live in the properties.

Buying a house in the current market here in Central Kentucky requires a lot of patience and perseverance. Houses are often sold within a day or two of being listed, and gone are the days of negotiating the price down and having the seller pay closing costs.