By Marie Mulvenna

The story of little “Laura,” in reality Lorraine Davis of Hinton, described a makeshift shack perched near a rock strewn dirt path that ran past a pig pen. The shack, fashioned of paper, rotten wood and patches of cloth to hold it together, housed Lorraine, her parents and four other children. There was no bathroom, only the heat of a small wood burning stove, a dirt floor with worn mattresses as beds and rags as covers. Clothing and food were sporadic and the brightest aspect of the somber scene were a few faded flowers tied clumsily to a dead corn stalk outside the doorless shack. It is a scene repeated over and over again for almost 90,000 others who share the desolation of poverty and want in Northern Georgia.

For a little 9-year-old girl named “Laura,” help really did come. It came like a miracle. But in reality, it came because people cared enough to do something, something, very wonderful and heart-warming. “Laura’s “ life will never be the same again and the happy change in her life may be one very bright ray of hope for countless others like her, those thousands who share the living hell of poverty in rural Georgia.

Back in December, a BULLETIN article described “Laura’s” home, a tiny tar paper shack, and the conditions under which her family fought to survive day after day, the unbelievable situations facing the scores of others like her. The story no doubt read like fiction but it was very much fact. Tragic and true.

Today, “Laura,” her parents and their four other children have a home –a bona fide home filled with love, bulging with hope and the awesome reality that it really did happen to them. The happiest part of the story of “Laura” is that the outcome –a home—may be within the reach and wildest dream of other families who today are living in poverty and despair. The story of the John Davis family has already become a sort of test case in rural north Georgia and will hopefully serve as a spring board to lend support to a uniquely self-help project to assist the poor in finding decent housing and an identity they never before believed possible.

The project needs a great deal of help –financial, household goods, volunteers, time and prayer. But it is start and it’s nice to be able to relate how one story can now be written with a very happy ending.

There are many people to be thanked for their efforts to help the John Davis family –there is Vaughan Hinton, director of Family and Children’s Services for Pickens County; Bob and Joan Granger, former VISTA volunteers; Fr. Gerald Peterson of Dahlonega, a Glenmary father who opened his heart and gave financial help to make a dream come true; Sue McTaggart, an earnest staff member of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and countless volunteers. But first and foremost there is Mrs. Fran Nichols, an undaunted and persistent Christian from Atlanta, who saw in the ad predicament of a BULLETIN story a seed of hope. Thanks to her continuing efforts and refusal to take “no” for a final answer, there is a happy ending to this true story. Fran was the unique catalyst in making this all possible.

When she read about the family of little Laura, she was distraught and angry that people had to exist in such conditions, but she was at the same time thankful that the facts had been disclosed. And so she sent the article to Gov. Jimmy Carter and scores of other persons whom she hoped could help. They did. As a result of state officials’ obvious concern and quick response to the story on Laura, immediate efforts were made through the office of Family and Children’s Services and the Ninth District Opportunity Inc., to help all the families mentioned. But official help is, by law, limited and can only assist substantially if the father of a family is actually disabled.

But that was not enough for Fran and after months of unbelievable effort, letter writing, phone calls, begging, collecting goods of all sorts, she made sufficient headway to open a special account to help Laura’s family find a home. The account is now administered through the Glenmary Fund by Fr. Peterson in the hope that it will help countless others like John and June Davis and their five children.

When official policies made it clear there was not much more that they could do for the family, Mrs. Nichols merely looked for other answers. And she found them. That’s an old story for Fran and Louis Nichols who have been helping the unfortunate for years. “Kind of a second vocation,” they say modestly as they load up another truck with furniture, clothing, food, a piece of linoleum, a secondhand bed. Dozens of trucks and packed station wagons have left Atlanta since December, a sort of caravan of help for those who so sorely need help.

There simply had to be a way to help Laura, really help her. Trips out to Hinton were numerous, rewarding but not entirely fruitful. Seeking a home for people on welfare inevitably meets a skeptical response. Home loans for them are virtually unobtainable, government agencies are unable to assist to any marked degree, chances are still very slim that the hope of getting a poor family a home of its own could ever be attained. Official hands and funds are tied and so the poor remain in the endless cycle of poverty and deprivation.

The news then came that the property on which the tiny shack stood had been sold and the family had to move. “Where?” was the big question. Efforts to persuade realtors to aid them were futile. They were penniless, on welfare, had no future, no collateral. The Nichols’ worked closely with officials in Hinton, meeting with Vaughan Hinton, Sue McTaggart and scores of others who shared their concern but were unable to do much about it. Fran somehow managed to collect on her own over $400 and with it she opened a special account in the Trust Co. of Georgia, earmarking the amount for the John Davis Building Fund.

Bob and Joan Granger had worked as VISTA volunteers in White County, Georgia and returned to rural northern Georgia to continue their work among the poor. Bob joined the staff of the Family and Children’s Services and was assigned to the Davis case, one of 100 such cases he handles. This was rather special to Bob and he described it rather touchingly.

“This is really a test case to show that these people can be helped. There are no situations through federal funding that can reach families of this sort who are on welfare,” Granger said. “What has happened to the Davis family can show others that these families can assume responsibility if motivated. They can do it and will do it with pride. It may well open some long needed government channels of funding for these people who so need help.”

Bob contacted Fr. Gerald Peterson, a Glenmary missionary, based at St. Luke’s in Dahlonega. Fr. Peterson immediately agreed to help in any way he could and made an additional donation of $300 from a small account he receives at Christmas from the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle in Illinois which sponsors him as a missionary parish. Then the ball started rolling. Enough funds had been secured to make the effort feasible. But the search for a piece of property or a small house was a difficult one.

As fate would have it, June Davis’ brother had long owned a one acre piece of land in the area and over a period of many years had been trying to build a small house on it with old building materials, in the hope that one day he might be able to sell it. It was, for the most part, unfinished and might never be finished. But he was approached and asked if he would sell it. The amount needed was $3,000, a modest amount but it seemed like a million dollars to the Davis family. Their angels of mercy stepped in and today John and June Davis own one acre of land, a small house and a lot of friends. There’s a lot of work yet to be done on the house but it’s theirs and it’s beautiful.

Fr. Peterson, through the Glenmary Fund, furnished the additional money required for the purchase and the fund will hold title to the Davis’ property until it is paid off. That process has already begun and John Davis proudly made his first payment of $40 just two weeks ago. People say they’ve never seen such a change in a man. He has never before owned property, never before even dreamed he could. Bob Granger says of June and John Davis, “They’re our friends now.” He adds quietly, “They’ve given us more than we could ever give them. They are so very happy and it’s been a vastly rewarding experience.”

The whole concept of self-help, physically aiding in the work of building, repaying a home loan even though on welfare, has a long way to go, but the Davis case is the first step on that road. Fr. Peterson is elated and already formulated a detailed plan for self-help housing in northern Georgia. He wants to continue to help families get a start through the Glenmary Fund, keeping it as a revolving source of money as repayments and donations are received. He needs help, the people of Georgia need help. Funds, as well as donations of furniture, appliances, bedding, clothing, assistance of all kinds, are desperately needed.

Some few who have heard about the happy ending and the test case of the Davis family are already beginning to aid. But more and more help is needed to make one test case a reality for countless others.

Right now, John and June Davis and their children are eagerly finishing off the home they dreamed of. Volunteers are still bringing in needed supplies and clothing. A garden is already turned and partially planted. A little girl glows with happiness. Help has come for our Laura.

It’s always a warm feeling for a writer to be able to wrap up a story with a happy ending. In this instance, we hope this one happy ending will merely be the beginning of many similar stories for so many of God’s children who need our help.