Two authors and entrepreneurs from Dryden are using funds from their best-selling book to build a new home for a Nicaraguan family.
Jo Pronger Faulker and her husband Mike Boone, both born and raised in the Dryden area, have been raising funds and building the home on Big Corn Island, about 75 km from the Nicaraguan coast in the Caribbean, since 2016.
In an interview, the two explain they purchased the property to build their dream vacation home and later connected with a family from the island who had nowhere to stay.
Pronger Faulkner and Boone then invited husband Silvio, wife Rumina and their two daughters Silvia and Glenda to stay and watch over the home, while they continued to live in Canada. Now – the couple is building a new home to donate to the same family.
“We thought, wouldn’t it be nice to build them a house someday? And that was our dream,” explained Pronger Faulkner. “The thing about always thinking of ‘someday’ is it never really comes to life. You have to take action to make your dreams come true.”
The pair say the new home is about two-thirds of the way completed and they’re still short about $10,000 USD to finish construction – but it should be livable later this year.
The two call their property Drifter’s Claim. They note it’s the name of an old bar in Dryden – where the couple’s two families each spent time together growing up.
To help raise funds for the initiative and associated construction costs, Pronger Faulkner – an already established author – decided to donate the proceeds of her recent release, Absolute Vision, towards the project.
Absolute Vision was published in early December. Now, it’s already considered an international best-seller as it hit the #1 ranking in 57 categories on Amazon in three countries – including Canada and the US.
“Each story is about creating your own version of an extraordinary life, and having a vision to get yourselves there,” she says.
Pronger Faulkner explains the release brings 21 international authors together to ‘share their motivational, personal and true stories of achieving their vision and intentionally creating an extraordinary life against all odds.’
“We, as humans, we all have our normal fears and beliefs – but how we deal with them is different. I loved having different perspectives in this. It’s hard for anyone to get vulnerable and dig deep in the emotional side of things, but everyone did such a good job. I’m so proud of this book and proud of all of the authors.”
Pronger Faulkner, who notes she continues to write under her maiden name, has previously published The Autoimmune Warrior’s Healing Key and Absolute Will – the first in the ‘Absolute’ collaboration series. She adds two more books in the series are on the way.
The two will be doing a book signing in Dryden on February 11 at the Dryden Fair Grounds between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the Calberry’s Craft Market.
To follow the home’s construction, check out Drifter’s Claim Corn Island on Facebook. More information on the book can also be found at BoonDocksPublishing.com.
