By Bonnie Culverhouse

After this past weekend, Sara McDaniel is a little closer to reaching her goal of turning a newly-acquired residence at 217 W. Union Street in Minden to a transition house for young women with children who have recently graduated from the Teen Challenge program.

The weekend’s fundraiser, “Colorful Cottages of Minden” tour with vendors in two locations brought  followers from several states.

“We had people from California, Florida … we had two ladies that drove from South Dakota … what in the world?” she said. “Then, we had a lot from Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. There might have been more from other states, but those are the ones that really stuck out to me.”

According to McDaniel, the magazine Cottages and Bungalows sold tickets for the tour, which included her home, the eight units at the Villas, The Fuller White House, The Cottage on Fort St. and Phillip’s Cottage.

“I don’t know the final ticket sales numbers, but they (the magazine) will give us a portion of that to go toward the renovation,” McDaniel said. “Then we had QR codes all around and people could scan and donate as they were visiting the properties.”

Vendor booths were located in the parking lot at the Villas, as well as in Academy Park. McDaniel said the vendors in Academy Park “did the absolute best. They were on that major thoroughfare, so they got traffic outside of our event,” she said. “The people at the Villas also did great, but the feedback from the park – they were just over the top happy. So, I’m thinking about how we can replicate that going forward.”

McDaniel said she hopes to have Phillip’s Cottage ready for its first inhabitants by late Summer 2025.