The quality of living for Lucille Davis, also known as “Ms. Lucille,” dramatically changed over the past couple of weeks.

Her husband died in the 1980s, and then her insurance was cancelled shortly after. Her roof was last redone in 1988, and she has been living with a roof with holes in it ever since.

She walked regularly from her house on Morninglo Lane, off Percival Road, to her church down the street, New Creation Church. She is well-known throughout her church and neighborhood community.

One day her church pastor, the Rev. Ed Stewart, offered her a ride home after service.

“Seeing the condition of the home just broke my heart, and I began praying on what we can do to help this lady,” Stewart said.

Stewart thought and prayed on Ms. Lucille’s situation. Then he reached out to Joey Huggins, the pastoral care minister at the nearby Shandon Baptist Church, where Stewart used to be a member.

Huggins was more than willing to assist Stewart in the project. He gathered members of Shandon Baptist and organized the partnership with New Creation Church.

“We want to remain faithful to the Bible’s commands of taking care of widows, orphans, and families in need,” said Shandon Baptist member Stephen Lincoln.

“I am blessed to be able to give Ms. Lucille the opportunity to live out her days in a dry and functional home,” Lincoln said.

Working alongside the two churches is Home Works of America. Columbia-based Home Works refers to itself as a Christ-centered nonprofit organization that provides home repair services to low-income homeowners. They hope for youth to be mentored and discipled by the manual labor as well.

Tami Covert, the home service coordinator at Home Works, was the first point of contact for the repair process. Her husband, John Covert, led a group to replace Ms. Lucille’s roof.

“To come alongside of Shandon supporting New Creation as a church is special,” Covert said. “It was a privilege to serve with a shared purpose.”

Around 40 people of all ages gathered to help with the renovations. Several college students made their mark on the project as well.

One of those students was Harry Weaver, an engineering major at the University of South Carolina and a member of Shandon Baptist. He brought six members of his engineering club to help.

“Helping Ms. Lucille was a great way for me to give back my community,” Weaver said.

The finished repairs included replacing the rotten beams for the roof and ridding the roof of holes.

Ms. Lucille can now live comfortably in her home.