I'm a social work student, desiring to be of help to my home community of Montgomery. As an Alabama Schweitzer Fellow, I have pursued a project to encourage representation of lived experience within the local homelessness response system. Through this, I met Lady Berry, whose house suffered extensive damage because of an electrical fire on September 27, 2024. Ms. Berry owns her home but had no insurance. With her two children, who attend a local public elementary school, she has been afforded a temporary place to live thanks to a local shelter. Ms. Berry would like to return to her home and be a part of her Ridgecrest neighborhood again rather than live in an apartment for a year in an adjoining county (which is an alternate housing option), so she purchased wood and shingles needed for a new roof and framing replacement with the Red Cross funds she received after the fire. She sought three bids for this work and has received a bid of $8,500 from a licensed and bonded roofer who will utilize the materials she has purchased. Through all of this, she has learned that she is not the only one with critical housing repair needs in the City and County of Montgomery. She and others in a creative group of people with lived experience of homelessness desire to use their experience and vision to advance shared responsibility for one another within our community.

In gratitude for all that Ms. Berry has learned and taught in mutual support of others, I and my family are contributing to a fundraiser for half of the cost of a new roof and repaired framing for the Berry family home. Will you join us?