The typical Habitat story is that of parents providing a better life for their children, but Beatrice is working hard to provide a better life for her aging mother.
Beatrice Payne is 62 years old and was born and raised in Lynchburg. She has always been a generous caretaker to her family. As a child, Beatrice helped raise her 3 younger siblings. When she was 18 years old, she married her husband. Though things were often tight financially, they were happy as they raised four children. She has helped raise six of her grandchildren.
She is so gracious and caring. When you meet her, you may not realize how difficult her life has been recently. In the last few years, Beatrice has sustained a serious back injury, lost her husband of 40 years, and in the middle of winter, she was forced out of the home where she raised her children and grandchildren. Yet, she does not complain. She would prefer to focus on others.
Beatrice applied for a Habitat home so she could care for her mother. Beatrice’s mother, Berta, is 80 years old. She lives in a small house in Rustburg that does not have central air or running water. In 2019, she fell, hurt her knee, and now needs a cane for assistance. Beatrice knew she had to find a solution for her mother.
Berta lives on a fixed income and does not have the finances to buy or rent a new home, and the rental homes Beatrice can afford are too small and do not have the accommodations Berta would need. Beatrice didn’t know what she could do. That is when she remembered Habitat and applied for our homeownership program.
Because of the support of our volunteers and donors, Beatrice’s Habitat home will provide for so many needs for her family. It will give them the space they need to care for Berta, with the accessibility she needs to move around the house with her injured knee. As it will be located on Hillview Street, a quiet, dead-end street on the eastern edge of town, it will provide safety and security. And it will provide financial stability because Beatrice will buy it with a zero-percent interest mortgage that fits her income.
Even before hammering the first nail for her home, Beatrice nearly completed all of her sweat equity hours by helping other families build their homes.
A caring family, who wishes to remain anonymous, has sponsored this home! Thank you for your support and generosity! Also, a huge thanks to Wells Fargo and Walmart Community Foundation, who both awarded grants for this build to fill a funding gap created by increased build costs. This increase was caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic and inflation over the last year.
