On this Father’s Day we salute fathers like Billy, a father whose life was changed by your support and his family now has hope for the future. We met Billy through our summer home repair team that was working on his aunt’s house which was located in front of his. She had no water, so we tapped onto his water well paying him $15 a month for the use of his water. Billy told our team his troubling story of heartbreak, and we had to act.
Billy M. and his family live in a very remote part of Hawkins County, Tennessee in an area where there is no farmland and due to his lack of skilled education and high unemployment rates in the area, he had been without work for a while.
One day while changing a tire on a lonely mountain road Billy was struck by a drunk driver; nearly killing him. Hospitalized for weeks he suffered injuries to his back, hip and right leg leaving him disabled.Billy’s wife then became the sole provider in the household caring for Billy, their son who has Cerebral Palsy and two other sons. She always made sure the family was registered to receive any help available to them.
One day after running errands Billy came home to find that his wife was gravely ill. She was rushed to the hospital and later died from a brain aneurism.
Now a disabled single father of three, Billy came into our office later in the year and was asked if he was being helped at Christmas and he remarked that “I don’t know how to do that my wife was always the smart one”. Our partnering program went over a few days before Christmas to visit Billy and the boys bringing along food, winter coats, new shoes and some toys for the youngest son. It was obvious there was no preparation for Christmas. The house had no decorations, no tree, no gifts, and no food in the refrigerator. After realizing the house had no flooring over the sub-floor plywood, a bathroom that barely worked, and a kitchen sink simply placed through plywood, a mission team that could help was found. The team came in and repainted the outside of the home, installed all new doors, windows and flooring throughout, a new bathroom, and a kitchen with new cabinets. They also replaced all of the furniture in the house.
Please help us to continue to support fathers like Billy. Please make your gift today.
