SUCCESS STORY

Ronald Blevins lived contentedly by himself in the small McDowell County community of Landgraff, on the banks of Elkhorn Creek. Then, in July 2001, the rains came and the creek rampaged, devastating his home. Everything in his basement, including his water heater, was destroyed, from that time on, he had to heat bathwater in his microwave. Still, he fixed the place up as well as he could, remaining there, he says, “just because it was home.”

"In May 2002, disaster struck again. Ronald was operating a pump in his basement, trying to stay ahead of the rising water, when “a river just came down the steps on me. I was lucky I got out,” he recalls. He and his neighbors couldn’t go far – the roads were washed out – but they gathered on higher ground and watched as flood waters ravaged their community. Ronald’s garage was washed away, and everything in his house was ruined.

“I knew I couldn’t handle it again,” he remembers. “ I was retired and living on Social Security. I didn’t know what to do.”

A FEMA worker introduced him to a McDowell County nonprofit organization called SAFE – Stop Abusive Family Environments. In 2002, SAFE spun off a sister non-profit – SAFE Housing and Economic Development (SHED). Says SAFE Executive Director Sharon Walden, “We have our work cut out for us. Even before the floods, 50% of the housing in this area was substandard, and 75% was more than 50 years old. Now, since the floods, even more of the housing is substandard.

Ronald Blevins is one of many people glad that SAFE and SHED took on the challenge: after the second flood, he became one of the first residents at Starland Heights, which has been fully occupied since it opened. “I was grateful to be there,” he says, “but I missed owning my own house. I just never thought that could happen for me again.”

It did – through SHED, SHED Housing Development Specialist Cathy Rose recalls that, as one of its projects, “SHED had bought a vandalized HUD foreclosure property in the town of Crumpler, a nice little community 20 minutes up the mountain from Landgraff. “We tore it down, put in a septic system and water lines, and then built a new house in cooperation with Mennonite Disaster Services.” SHED provided materials, MDS volunteers provided labor – and soon a tidy, 1200-square-foot house was standing on the corner lot.

“The people from SHED showed me the house and I liked it a lot,” Ronald recalls. “It’s a nice, solid house.” SHED constructed an a ffordable mortgage – he pays just $70.43 per month – and he soon moved into the house.

One of the first things he did was put up a flagpole, and every day the American flag flies proudly from the porch.