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By JOEL ELLIOTT
Staff Writer

enlarge Staff photo by David Leaming

FAMILY WITH FRIENDS: Karen Champagne on Thursday sits in the middle of her children and friend and businessman Brent Burger who arranged to allow her to purchase her repossessed home in Fairfield Center. In front are kids Jerico, Jasper, Justice and Journey. In back is Josie, Tatonka, Jessie, Burger, and Makita. Missing is son Dakota.

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Today, Burger plans to take a drive down to Portland and return with two objects: the deed and house key to the home he intends to return to the Champagne family.

But he said he still needs help.

Karen Champagne and her children, ages 4 to 15, were facing eviction earlier this summer, unable to pay the mortgage after her mentally ill husband, Richard, accumulated about $145,000 in debt before committing suicide four years ago.

The future looked bleak for a single mother of nine with no credit history and no means of paying off the banks.

Burger said he got involved after reading an article about the family written by reporter Doug Harlow in the Morning Sentinel. Burger began thinking about what he could do to help.

But even now, Burger said he has a difficult time explaining his motivation for setting out on a quest to help the Champagnes that resulted in him paying out tens of thousands of dollars and donating countless hours of labor and planning.

"I don't know that answer," he said. "I saw that article in the Morning Sentinel and I just couldn't believe that nine children were going to be homeless. I thought I should get involved, and I did, and there was no turning back."

The $76,000 sale finalizes today, but that is hardly the end of Burger's project. Now, he is calling on the community to donate labor and materials in order to overhaul the 1,400-square-foot home and make it more livable before returning it to the Champagnes Sept. 30.

Calling his project "Nine Days for Nine Children," Burger, owner of Agway True Value in Winslow and four other stores across central Maine, aims to complete construction on the house that Karen Champagne and her husband had started building 16 years ago. Karen did not have the carpentry skills either to finish the home or to keep it repaired, and 15 years of children tend to wear on a house.

The project, which is planned to begin Sept. 21 and end Sept. 29, aims for an additional $18,000 in donations for materials. Any funds taken in above that amount will go toward lowering the Champagnes' mortgage when they buy it back from Burger. His goal is to cut the monthly mortgage payment down to a maximum of $500.

A list of materials needed for the project can be found on a Web site located at www.NineChildren.com. For more information, e-mail Burger at AHelpingHand@NineChildren.com.

The family is overwhelmed by Burger's efforts to help them, Karen Champagne said.

"Brent is a wonderful man," she said, the voices of her nine children filtering through the phone conversation. "Sometimes I think he is an angel, and with all of this happening, when it's done, he's going to -- poof -- disappear, because it's hard to imagine a normal person doing all he has done."

Champagne said that moving back into their home will make it easier for her children to attend school. With the intention of returning to Fairfield, they had never switched over to schools in Winslow, the location of the temporary housing Burger had found for them. Donations are paying the $1,200-per-month rent there.

The number of homeless across the state is tracking a gradual downward path, according to MaineHousing spokesman Dan Simpson.

"That's a success story," he said. "It's good to hear. A family of that size -- they would have had a hard time finding an apartment, especially one they could afford."

Burger said he has no regrets about his efforts.

"Sometimes you think, 'I should have done this', or 'I should have done that'," he said. "I didn't want this to be one of those situations where I looked back and I thought, 'I wish I had done something for those people.'"

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