LHCDC marks 1,000th home repair with celebration

Published: Monday, August 4, 2014 at 2:52 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, August 4, 2014 at 2:52 p.m.

THOMASVILLE | Minutes after Thomasville Mayor Joe G. Bennett cut the ribbon celebrating the Lexington Housing Community Development Corp.'s 1,000th repair at a home on East Guilford Street on Monday morning, homeowner Maryanne Stokes couldn't hold back her emotions any longer.

"Praise the Lord!" exclaimed Stokes, who has resided on East Guilford Street since 1999. "I am truly blessed and cannot thank you all enough. I am very happy, very happy. I know one thing, if it wasn't for the good Lord, I wouldn't have nothing. I'm very grateful for everything."

Thanks to LHCDC's repair program, which began in 2001, and its partnerships with Piedmont Regional Weatherization, North Carolina Housing Financing Agency, the United Way, New Beginning Church and numerous volunteers, Stokes' house is back to being home, sweet home once again.

Antionette Kerr, executive director of LHCDC, said the 1,000th repair celebration has great personal significance for her since she is a native of the area.

"It is very gratifying for me personally because I was born and raised in Lexington," Kerr said. "A lot of the homes we've worked on are homes that I had grown up sitting on their porches and going to their houses. It is really gratifying because a lot of these families I know."

Keith McCurdy, director of construction and repair at LHCDC, compared the urgent repair work performed at the East Guilford Street residence to emergency room treatment. Before Stokes' home received a new hot water heater and repairs to the heating and ventilating systems, she was without heat and hot water last winter.

"This is an urgent repair program" McCurdy said. "We're not out to make it look pretty, we just want to make the home functional and livable again. It's great to help people get out of situations they don't need to be in. Nobody needs to be without water, nobody needs to be without heat or electricity or proper heating and cooling."

Of the over $6,000 in repairs to Stokes' house, another significant improvement was the work completed to stop rainwater from collecting underneath the structure. Additional repairs included new fascias, gutter downspouts, a crawl door, a new bath ceiling, bathroom fan-ceiling light and small tile repair.

Although McCurdy has only been with LHCDC since 2013, he has been involved in 60 urgent repair projects throughout the county.

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LHCDC marks 1,000th home repair with celebration