By Kelly Young
Leola Redd is one of the six applicants for the HOME grant fortunate enough to be selected for a home renovation. Her previous home had become so dilapidated that the Redd family did not know what they were going to do.
“At my age it’s hard, because you can’t get grants and loans to fix up your house,” Redd said. “So I didn’t know how I could ever fix my house.”
Redd’s house was so full of holes that she couldn’t keep rain from coming inside through her roof or snakes from coming inside through her floor. The wooden floorboards were so weak that the toilet was expected to fall through the floor at any time.
“God is still in the blessing business,” Redd said. “I thank the Lord for everything, and I thank all the people that have been working and spending all their time to help us, I really appreciate them.”
Redd, a mother of six children and a member of Sweet Union Baptist Church, moved out of her old house on April 3, her birthday. HOME grant recipients were initially told that the work would take four months, and that initial estimate was fairly accurate. As part of the HOME grant, recipients will also receive a refrigerator and a stove as part of their
new homes.
“I had a lot of good memories of the old house, I loved the design of the house, and I loved the yard,” Redd said. “But time was just out for that house, it was real bad.”
Redd has lived in Jacksonville her entire adult life and lived in her old home for the past 48 years.
“The neighbors asked me if I was going to cry, and I said, ‘Why would I cry? If I cry I would be crying for this blessing that God has given me,’ because God knows what I was living in. Why would I cry when things were so bad in there?” Redd said.
So now Redd and the other grant recipients, wait until the end of the month, when they can move into their new homes and can get back to their normal life.
“People don’t have to do anything for you, I’m just so thankful to the people who came up with this grant idea,” said Redd. “Now when I pass the place where the new house is being built, it looks so good that I can’t believe it.”
