Robert Goldsmith,
President and CEO

1173 West Main Street
Abingdon, VA 24210

Phone: (276) 623-9000
Fax: (276) 628-2931
peopleinc@naxs.com www.peopleincorp.org

Incorporated: 1964

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Gerald Ratliff, 41, and his wife Ethel, 37, never had indoor plumbing before last year. Their 10-year-old son grew up not knowing what a shower was or what using his own bathroom felt like. If the Ratliffs wanted to bathe they had to heat up water and then pour it into a round washtub. Washing clothes was also a trial, requiring Ethel to carry water in from outside and wash everything by hand.

Last year People, Inc. of Southwest Virginia intervened. The Ratliff family was able to build a new home with help from People, Inc.'s Indoor Plumbing Rehabilitation Program. The program, which turned the Ratliffs' lives around, offers zero-interest loans and grants to provide safe drinking water, proper sewage treatment, and indoor bathrooms for households where none exist.

All systems, including roofing, wiring, and heating, must be brought up to state and local codes. If this is not possible, as with the Ratliff's home, then the old house is torn down and replaced with a new one. Ninety percent of the homes serviced under the Indoor Plumbing Rehabilitation Program are entirely replaced.

Ethel remembers that, "one of the hardest things about our old house was when it was cold, you had to get up and try to build a fire to get it warm enough that you could stand it. We would use about six or seven buckets of coal a night just to keep warm."

Now the Ratliffs enjoy the indoor plumbing and heating system in their new home. "This house is one of the best things to ever happen to me and my family," says Ethel.