Family’s home saved by donors
Submitted by jcht2010 on
By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
Throughout her 81 years of life, Thelma Williams has often been called independent, sometimes even stubborn. She has never been one to ask for a handout. She is a proud woman who worked until she couldn’t anymore, and now lives on a fixed income and does her best to raise the three great-grandchildren in her care. She attends their sporting events when they aren’t too far away, and does her best to parent the kids, who call her “Big Mama.”
“They keep me pretty spry,” she said.
She and the three children, Clearance, Kaijuan, and Margo, live in a modest home on a little country road between Edna and Vanderbilt. Recently, however, the family was threatened with being on the street. She had taken out a reverse mortgage to help support the three children, and now she had to come up with more than $12,000 to keep a roof over their heads.
Margo, Thelma’s nine-year-old great-granddaughter sprang into action.
“Big Mama, we’re not gong to lose the house,” she told her, “I’m going to save all my nickels and pennies.”
Thelma beamed with pride as she said, “She’s really good at saving her change.”
Thelma’s community, her friends in Victoria, Jackson, and surrounding counties, her great-grandchildren’s school, and even total strangers came together to help. A gofundme.com campaign was set up in Thelma’s name. The online fundraiser reached its goal quickly. Industrial Elementary East also held a fundraiser called “laps of love” where the students walk or run laps and donate money for each lap they finish.
“I always had faith we would get it,” said Thelma, “I just didn’t think it would be that quick. We are just so grateful. I don’t do Facebook or the internet,” she said, “so every couple of days someone would call me and tell me ‘you’ve got some more in there!’”
In less than two weeks, the fundraisers had surpassed the amount Williams needed to save her home.
Williams sat inside her home, hugged Margo and said “I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I was just so excited I didn’t know what to do. I just kept saying ‘Oh, thank you Jesus.’”
Margo isn’t sure what she’ll do with her pennies and nickels now since she doesn’t have to spend them to keep the house, so she said she’s just going to keep on saving.
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