Couple almost home

HOLLYWOOD -- Shirley and Harry Smiley huddled around space heaters as temperatures plunged into the 20s over the weekend, doing what they could to keep frigid air from invading their aged and drafty mobile home.

A few yards away, their new three-bedroom house stands framed and sided, awaiting the wiring, walls and other interior work that will make it into a home. Rural Mission Inc. is committed to completing the work, but the group needs about $7,000 more in donations to make that happen.

"It was hard with the cold, but we made it," Shirley Smiley said Monday. "I'll just keep praying for (the new home). I've waited all these years. I can wait a little more."

The Smileys raised four children in the secondhand mobile home they bought back in 1975 at the start of their marriage. The home is now falling apart, rife with leaks, rot, mold and a persistent, damp chill has left Shirley Smiley and her son with severe allergies and asthma.

With help from a small army of volunteers, Rural Mission has scraped since the 1960s to build and repair homes for elderly and low-income families on the Sea Islands and in southern Charleston County. The nonprofit, however, ran out of money last year to finish the Smileys' home and another house being built for Henrietta Mack of Wadmalaw Island.

Carol Etheridge, Charleston Place human resources director, learned of their plight and spearheaded a fund drive to finish the homes with help from Mickey Bakst, Charleston Grill general manager, and Burrow Hill of Hill Construction. The "Homes for Christmas" effort has pulled in $25,267 to date and helped Rural Mission finish Mack's two-bedroom home in time for the holiday.

Mack, who got the keys on Christmas Eve, said she is thrilled to be out of her old, dilapidated mobile home. She said she would have frozen this week if she hadn't moved.

"It was a brand-new Christmas, a brand-new New Year's, a brand-new everything," Mack, 73, said with a laugh. "God bless everyone who helped make this happen. It's wonderful."

Chris Brooks, Rural Mission's director of program development, said the organization should be able to finish the Smileys' home by month's end if enough money is raised to complete the work.

Some plumbing has been done, and electricians and dry-wall specialists are expected to work on the home this week. While several trades-people have volunteered their time, money still is needed for materials, he said.

Rural Mission also still is collecting new or lightly used furniture, appliances and other household items to furnish the two homes. Mack, for instance, still needs a coffee table and a chest of drawers.

"We need more furniture donations to make these houses comfortable and inviting," Brooks said. "They are not going to be able to move a lot of their older possessions with them. What they need is to make a new start."

To help

Donations are being sought to help Rural Mission Inc. complete a new home for the Smiley family of Hollywood. People can donate through the group's Web site at ruralmission.org or by sending checks to "Homes for Christmas" c/o Rural Mission Inc., P.O. Box 235, Johns Island, SC 29457. Checks should be made out to Rural Mission Inc. -- Homes for Christmas.

The PODS company has donated a portable storage unit where people can drop off new or gently used household furniture, appliances, curtains, towels and other items for the Smiley home and another home built for the Mack family of Wadmalaw Island. The unit is beside Seacoast Church's West Ashley campus, 2049 Savannah Highway. Donors should contact Rural Mission at 768-1720 for a schedule of donation times to assure the POD can be accessed and help will be available.

Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or gsmith@postandcourier.com.