Alma Ball’s small, tidy house on Bailey Street in Opp needed an additional room when she received sole custody of her three great-grandchildren after their mother’s tragic death.
Towanna Ferrell was getting out of her car at work when her estranged husband shot and killed her in the parking lot. “I cried for three weeks when she died,” Ball said about the granddaughter she raised from birth.
And Ball didn’t know what she was going to do with three children — two girls, ages 12 and 11, and a boy, 8. When the children moved in, her two-bedroom, one-bath home was simply overcrowded.
Ball tried to find help locally but kept running into dead ends. “But the Lord has taken care of me and we are doing well,” she said.
Her granddaughter had worked for Heritage Inn in Barnesville, Ga. Heritage Inn’s parent company, Community Health System Inc., has a foundation funded by voluntary payroll deductions to aid and meet the crisis needs of employees and their families.
With nowhere else to go, Ball called Tommy Dobbins, Community Health Foundation’s executive director, who had told her to contact him if the children needed anything. So Dobbins came to Opp to assess their needs.
He drove around town, stopping by First Baptist Church, Opp, and from there, he was eventually directed to Doyce Colvin. Colvin, a member of Harmony Baptist Church, Andalusia, is the “go-to” guy in the Covington County area for Carpenters for Christ.
Carpenters for Christ is a worldwide organization of volunteers who engage in a wide variety of projects for people in need — from building handicapped ramps to replacing roofs to building churches.
Carpenters for Christ from several Alabama Baptist churches provided the labor and the foundation provided the funds for some much-needed living space for Ball and her great-grandchildren.
The Carpenters for Christ volunteers came from Harmony Baptist; First, Opp; First Baptist Church, Gantt; and First Baptist Church, Fayette.
At the end of their three-day “room raising,” the 20 volunteers had “roughed in” a 16-by-42 addition to Ball’s home. They are waiting for professionals to do the electrical and plumbing work. Then the men will finish the interior walls and flooring.
Greg Cotter, pastor of Harmony, was among the men who worked on the project.
“Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded that we go,” he said. “We take His command seriously and literally.”
“Those Carpenters for Christ are some amazing people,” Ball said. “Everybody was so kind. When they left here, I told them I didn’t have anything to give them but my love and prayers, but I will always pray for them.”
Share with others: