Singer-songwriter Rory Feek, one half of country duo Joey + Rory, has built something incredible with the help of people across the country. With donations from fans, Feek built a one room schoolhouse on his Tennessee farm for his daughter Indiana, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth. In addition to the schoolhouse being a great place for Indiana (or Indy) to grow and learn, the small building also honors the memory of Feek's late wife, singer Joey Feek.
In an article Feek wrote for Today, the singer said that after his wife passed away, people sent in cards and letters with donations.
"They told of how they had prayed for us and how they are praying still. And in many of those envelopes there were $5 bills. And 10s and 20s, and change and checks of all sizes," Feek wrote. "When we spread their outpouring of love all across the kitchen table, it added up to nearly $100,000. It was beyond humbling."
Feek explained that it was always Joey's wish for Indiana to be homeschooled. So using the donations sent to him, Feek decided to build her a schoolhouse on their farm, complete with a "barn-raising" party for the whole community. The schoolhouse, which Indy will attend along with a dozen other students, was named Hardison Mill School, after another schoolhouse that had served the community years earlier.
"Last fall, when the idea came to build a schoolhouse at home started to become a reality, our community gathered with us for an old-fashioned barn-raising. But instead of a barn, we raised the walls and trusses of a one-room schoolhouse. One that looks like it could've been built 150 years ago. And it was the money from those cards and letters that we used to build it," Feek said. "When it was completed, the total cost of the schoolhouse was exactly what had been given to us, almost to the dollar."
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The singer is now able to walk his daughter to a schoolhouse that honors his wife and all that she stood for.
"Today was a special day for our family, a day when something beyond heartbreaking became something beyond beautiful," Feek wrote.
Rory and Joey Feek rose to fame after appearing together on the CMT competition Can You Duet? in 2008.They were married in 2002. Joey gave birth to Indiana in 2014, just months before she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Rory Feek released his book "Once Upon a Farm: Lessons on Growing Love, Life and Hope on a New Frontier," which was inspired by raising his family on his Tennessee farm, in June.
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