Community lends many helping hands to Jedburg family in need.

JEDBURG — Lumber is strewn about the double-wide mobile home. Strips of rotten carpet have been pulled and there are still places where water-damaged wood needs to be replaced. Except for one bathroom, there's not a room in the house that doesn't need some major attention.

Some could look at the house as an impossible mess. Others see it as a symbol of hope and a testament to what can be accomplished when a neighborhood rallies around one of its own.

It's been over a year since Ron Harvey saw the conditions the Grants were living in at their house in the New Hope community of Jedburg. Carrie and Louis Grant were losing their battles with diabetes. She had lost both of her legs to the disease and he had one of his own. While dealing with the consequences of the disease and trying to raise their two adopted teenage sons, Rod and O.J. McKnight, their house and yard were suffering from the lack of upkeep.

"I've known the family for a while. I kept saying that I wanted to do something for them," Harvey said.

He and several other members of the community established the ReNew Hope Fund and at the same time organized a yard cleanup effort in July 2008. It took more than two dozen volunteers and an industrial-sized garbage container to clear out the trash that had gathered in the yard.

Since then, Harvey said people have donated time, money and food to help the Grants get through a very difficult time.

"There's been a lot of help from a lot of different people," Harvey said.

The next priority is to get the family out of the house that looks like it's about to fall down around them. A gift from Davie Corrigan through the United Methodist Relief Center has gone a long way toward making that happen. Corrigan donated a double-wide mobile home that now sits on the Grants' property about 30 feet from the current house.

The mobile home needed a lot of work, but Harvey said the structure was about 80 percent sound. Several companies and organizations have donated services and manpower to help with the major renovations which has included tearing out the old bathroom plumbing to make way for a handicap accessible shower, getting rid of the old carpet and replacing any rotted wood.

Carrie's sister, Mary Washington, said the outpouring of help has meant a lot to the family.

"I really appreciate what they're doing because they need this bad," she said. "This is fantastic. God has to be in the plan."

Harvey said he and friend Larry Moorer have spent their available weekends and evenings to get the place ready. Moorer, 62, also was familiar with the family and was happy to help, but on a personal level he said he was looking for an opportunity to donate his time to someone.

"I had been telling my wife that I felt like something was missing. After working at this for a few weeks, I realized that this was what I needed," Moorer said.

Also working on the house are O.J. and Rod.

"Replacing the walls was the hardest part. Everything else has been easy," O.J. said.

Otherwise, O.J. said it's been "overwhelming" to be on the receiving end of so much support and to know there's "people looking out for us."

When donations can't cover the needs of the new house, Harvey has gotten items purchased through the United Methodist Relief Fund.

Despite the general mess of the renovations, Harvey believes the new house is close to being ready.

"We might be a month away. Realistically, it might be longer than that because things don't go along just as you want them to," Harvey said.

Anyone who wants to contribute to the ReNew Hope Fund can do so through the CPM Federal Credit Union in Summerville.

Contact Bill Henley at 937-5433 or bhenley@postandcourier.com.