A fund has been created for a 101-year-old Detroit woman displaced from her home by a HUD foreclosure.
A St. Clair Shores-based contracting company also has volunteered to build a wheelchair ramp at the home on Detroit’s west side where Texana Hollis is staying with a friend.
“Lord, yes, I had no idea in the world so many people was thinking about little old me,” Hollis said Wednesday from the home she’s staying in a few blocks from her own home on Carbondale, where she lived for 50 years. “It’s just a blessing, I’m telling you.”
HUD officials said they made a mistake when they evicted Hollis in September. Her son, who is in his 60s, had failed to keep up with taxes on the house. Hollis was left in her wheelchair outside, with her belongings in a trash receptacle on the street.
Longtime family friend Pollian Cheeks, 68, took Hollis in, and she has lived there since.
“Look here, I’m a firm believer that God don’t make no mistakes,” Cheeks said Wednesday. “He’ll close one door, he’ll open up a better door.”
Cheeks said there has been an outpouring of concern, so she is providing a post office box address for donations until she’s able to arrange a fund at a bank for Hollis. Comedian Tyler Perry called to help and chatted with Hollis, Cheeks said.
Cheeks said the money will first be used to buy Hollis new clothes to replace old items she has in storage.
“I said, ‘People are sending you money to get you new clothes — stop worrying about those old clothes,’ ” Cheeks said.
Contractor Ray Safadi, owner of P.C. Contracting in St. Clair Shores, said he offered to build a wheelchair ramp at Cheeks’ home after he saw Hollis’ plight.
“I see how many homes are going up for foreclosure and people losing their homes, and what really touched me is she’s an older lady and she really didn’t even have a chance,” Safadi said. “Thank God those people took her in, and I’m glad to be able to give her a hand.”
He said he expects to start building the 14-foot ramp — valued at about $ 1,600, including $ 650 in supplies — sometime next week.
Donations can be sent to Texana Hollis at P.O. Box 4270, Detroit 48204.
