DALLAS — An elderly Dallas woman without insurance got an early wake-up call Saturday from a group of strangers after they saw her heartbreaking story on News 8.
The Good Samaritans showed up on Augustine Lacy's doorstep, ready to repair her 86-year-old home that was badly damaged during last week's storms.
"It makes me feel so grateful," Lacy said. "I know that there are some good people still in the world that'll come and help people."
Lacy didn't know what to do when a tree slammed into her house last Tuesday.
"I heard a big crash, and the whole house shook, and I jumped up," she said. "I guess lightning hit the tree."
Lacy burst into tears when she saw the damage on the her roof. The 73-year-old struggles to get by every day, so the crushing blow to her house left her overwhelmed... and hopeless.
"I have no idea," Lacy said. "I don't know what I would do. I have nowhere to go."
When Steve Ormand of Texas Roof and Fence heard about Lacy's problem, he decided to find a solution.
"She's a God-loving woman," he said. "She's gracious."
Ormand volunteered to make the repairs without asking for a single penny.
"If you don't take the tree down like that right, it will literally knock out the whole back of the house off so then it goes from a $12,000 to $15,000 problem to a $35,000 to $40,000 problem... or they condemn the house," Ormand said "It wouldn't be livable."
Another contractor, Stephen Quinn, stepped in to haul away tree limbs and to patch up the damage inside Lacy's home.
"If everybody helped everybody, then we will be in a better place," Ormand said.
E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com
