MICHIGAN, N.D. – Hand-drawn and colored pictures from grandkids decorate the kitchen. Pictures of a life lived hang on the living room walls. Coco the dog keeps watch from outside the patio door.

This is home for Rosemary Knoll, a resident of Michigan, ND (population: 250). Sitting down and speaking with Rosemary is like sitting with your own family as she warmly welcomes you into her home and shares smiles alongside the stories of her kids, grandkids, and her late husband.

“This is the longest I have lived in a place,” said Knoll. “[My husband] and I were moving every 10 years or so. Before Michigan, we were living in the cities. We have moved from Pine River, where we owned a store for about 10 years, to Brainard, Backus, and finally here. After living in the cities, this is just fine.”

Michigan may not have the hustle and bustle of nearby Grand Forks or Brainard, but for Rosemary, it offers something much more important: being close to family. But like many others in small, rural towns across the state, Rosemary’s home was showing some of its age and, in order to stay close to that family, needed some TLC.

“The windows definitely needed repair,” she said as she pointed toward the living room windows where the morning sun shone through. “It was always so cold and drafty in here. The patio door was bad too. During the winter, you could see the blinds move from the draft. During Christmas, even the presents were getting wet from condensation.”

Like most home improvement projects, the costs and comparisons and coordination of contractors felt a bit daunting to tackle on her own. In true North Dakota fashion, it was an otherwise casual conversation with a neighbor when Rosemary learned she might be able to get some help from a local organization.

“I was out at my mailbox and the neighbor across the street gave me an application from a place that could help with repairs,” said Knoll. “Otherwise, I would’ve never known about this program.”

The application was to the Red River Regional Council, which serves four counties in northeast North Dakota to “assist in building vibrant communities, one project at a time.” A top priority of the Red River Regional Council is rural housing, and one of the ways in which they take on that challenge is by facilitating single family housing rehabilitation projects. To support that work, RRRC has applied for and been awarded the Housing Preservation Grant Program administered by USDA Rural Development.

With the repairs complete and one winter in the books to test out the new windows, furnace, and water heater, Rosemary enjoys a much more comfortable home, a lower energy bill, and fewer worries about the needs of the home that keeps her close enough to visit her kids and attend her grandkids’ many activities.

“I have a daughter in Gilby and a son in Grand Forks, so being here gets me closer to my grandkids,” said Knoll. “Otherwise, we were too far away and only got to see them on holidays. Now I get to go see them play sports and spend more time with them. I drive with my daughter to all the games. This year, the tournament is in Grafton, so I drive to Gilby and meet my daughter to drive to Grafton.”

The Housing Preservation Grant is just one of more than 70 programs available through USDA Rural Development to enhances the capacity of local organizations and support the needs of rural Americans. To see other ways USDA Rural Development expands economic opportunities and improves the quality of life in rural communities, visit https://www.rd.usda.gov/nd.