Neighbors step in to help owner of home destroyed by storm

GRESSTON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Neighbors in the small community of Gresston say that in times of tragedy, they help each other out.

“What would our families do back in the old days? What would our daddies do? We all agreed on one thing– we couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.”

That statement still rings true for Robby Tripp just five months after the Tornado that destroyed his long-time neighbor’s home on Cochran Highway.

“60 something years yeah we’ve been neighbors,” he said. “Glenn has always been there to help us so it’s our time to give back,” Tripp continued.

Glenn Carr, unable to afford paying for the damages, says the past five months have been tough on a fixed income.

“The only difficulty I’ve had in my spirit and otherwise is just trying to be able to survive with the money I have with the money that’s coming in,” he said.

So neighbors, church members and even State Representative Jimmy Pruett wanting to help him get a new house on his family’s land meant a lot.

“If nothing else, that right there let’s me know that they care about me and appreciate me for being me,” Carr said in tears.

Tripp says he and others are willing to do the work, but they’ll need all of Middle Georgia’s help–mostly through donations.

“We need to find a way to get Glenn a home suitable and safely inhabitable where he can live out his years here on his own property,” Tripp added.

They’re goal is to raise $30,000 for a refinanced mobile home. “It’ll be a nice comfortable home that he can sit there and feel at peace in his own home,” he went on.

It may not sound like much but for Carr it would mean everything. “I would be elated, I would be elated, I really would, I’d be happy,” he said.

Tripp says you can donate or reach them two ways–either by mail at:

525 Plaza Avenue, Apartment G-39

Eastman, Georgia 31023

or

send donations in to Citizens Bank and Trust in Eastman at:

P.O Box 339 for Glenn Carr