Heart of Gold--A My Town Monday Post

Fellow blogger Travis posts a My Town Monday post almost every Monday. I know there are others out there who do the same, so I decided that I will do one today. I don't know that I will get around to doing this regularly, but today, it is very fitting.

My town...I have lived in Amarillo for almost 6 years now, and before that, I lived in Dalhart for 5 years. But my home town is the metropolis of Groom. Population...somewhere around 600. For those of you who watched the local news last night, you already heard most of this story. But here it is, anyways...

Extreme Home Makeover...Groom Edition

A little while back, members of the Baptist church in Groom decided to do a service project for one of their members, Paula Brown.

Paula was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in high school. She told friends that her dream was to be able to WALK across the stage for graduation. And you know what? She did. But that was the last time she ever walked. She has been wheelchair-bound ever since. She was told that she didn't have long to live. That was close to 30 years ago. She has the most wonderfully positive attitude. She is grateful for things that I take for granted. She "babysits" her nieces and nephews (who actually look after her).

Last winter, some people from her church had gone to her house and noticed that there was snow in the house. That's how drafty her house was. But she didn't complain. She was happy to have a roof over her head. So this year, they decided that they would go in and fix her house before it got too cold. When they went in to fix the problems, they realized that the house needed way too much work and decided something else needed to be done. So instead, they simply painted the house to brighten it up, and didn't say anything else to Paula about it. She was so appreciative of the work they did.

Later, a member of the church looked into buying a small house that has been empty in Groom for a few years. Within 3 hours of talking to the owner about his asking price, he had raised the money to purchase the house. People from the community banded together to renovate the little house. Some people donated materials/supplies, or gave considerable discounts. Others volunteered time to work on the renovations.

As the work was being done, Paula had heard that people were doing this for her and asked a friend if that was true. The friend told her that she must have misunderstood...that they were fixing it up for someone else.

So yesterday was the "big reveal." They did it a lot like Extreme Home Makeover...had a truck or 2 parked in front of the house and then everybody yelled "Truck drivers, move those trucks!"

The house is fully handicap accessible. Paula was so excited because now she'll be able to reach the sink and microwave in the kitchen. She can now easily fit through every door in the house. She commented that she didn't deserve this, and that there were other people in Groom who needed it more than her. She has such an amazing attitude!

I am so proud of My Town. Talk about community! I am proud that they all worked together, donated time and/or money and expertise. What an amazing tribute. A tribute to Paula's heart of gold and to the hearts of gold of the people of Groom. Very fitting for the Season we have now entered!

Here's a link to the story on KFDA. You can click on the video to see the house and here the news report. And here's a link to the story in the Amarillo Globe News. On a side note, the columnist who wrote the story is a native of Groom.