Jimmy Bakken

Jimmy Bakken of Fairdale, North Dakota was a rather accidental entry into the construction trades. He and his wife Judy were married in 1980, and after which they joined Judy’s family dairy farm. They worked as dairy farmers for 10 years until Judy’s father passed away, at which time the farm was foreclosed upon due to an insurance lapse. Jimmy then joined Carpenters Local 1091 as a millwright in Bismarck. In many of the jobs he worked on, he was the foreman. At the Basin Electric Power Plant, his firm sent a 60 ton rotor by semi from Stanton, North Dakota to a waiting Russian cargo plane in Bismarck. Jimmy was in charge of running the crane which loaded and unloaded the rotor. The jobs that Jimmy worked on took him and his family to many of the states in the upper Midwest, which they enjoyed exploring as a family.

Weeks of hospitalization and rehab followed, and Jimmy needed therapy to learn how to walk and function again. When Jimmy returned to his job, he could only work four days a week because of severe leg pain. Five months later, he had the first of several heart attacks, which led to a quadruple bypass a year later. Additional medical issues including pulmonary problems, extreme blood pressure spikes, a broken right leg and fluid buildup around the heart led Jimmy to go on disability in 2019.

By this point, Jimmy was homebound, and money was becoming a major issue due to all of the medical expenses. They desperately needed an accessible bathroom, and didn’t know how they could afford one. They found our foundation through online research, and applied for a grant. They also applied for and received grants from the North Dakota Housing Agency, and Nordak Electric Trust. Between the three grants, they now had the funding to build an accessible bathroom. Late in the project, the contractor found that some pre-existing windows had to be replaced. which the foundation was able to cover due to the generosity of our donors!

When we told Judy we could cover this incremental expense, she said, “We can’t thank you enough for everything you have done! We have had a terrible afternoon after finding out that an unexpected medical bill is due. We appreciate the way God balances life, thank you for blessing us so much. See more pictures below of the Bakken’s bath remodel.