JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — "There's no place like home for the holidays." This lyric from the 1954 Christmas classic by Perry Como took on a much deeper meaning for a Jacksonville woman who had not place to call home.
To Tonyia Thomas, the small house on 32nd Street is no ordinary house. It's the house her grandmother built from the ground up. It's the place she grew up.
“Now to me, this is the favorite part," Thomas said while walking through the living room. "I actually have pictures of my Christmas when I was about seven. In these pictures, it was me, my sister and my mama. And we had these bicycles.“
Even though she inherited her grandmother’s house seven years ago, Thomas has been homeless the past year.
It’s been unlivable due to a rodent infestation that happened while sitting vacant.
“I thought I was gonna have a horrible Christmas. And I was feeling hopeless about a lot of stuff that I'm going through," Thomas explained. "And not expecting any of this. Not knowing there was so many beautiful people out here that aren't your family, but are willing to give you hope, give you a second chance.”
However, a group of people gathered to help make the Northside house a home again.
“I've got two technicians out here. And what we're doing is called a rodent exclusion," Jennifer Leggett, the owner of Lindsey Pest Services, said. "And then, we're going to physically remove the rats that are inside the house. So, it'll take a couple days to trap them and get them out, but we'll have it where Ms. Thomas can sleep inside of her house. And she doesn't have to sleep on anybody's porch or on their couch."
After hearing Thomas’ story, Lindsey Pest Services and Three Grains of Rice Missions, a non-profit that’s committed to ending homelessness in Jacksonville, are teamed to help her with the work and costs.
“We sometimes get confused and believe that the mission field is always thousands of miles away, but the reality of it is the mission field is where we are right here," Ed Perez, president and CEO of Three Grains of Rice Missions, explained. “We know that we can recover [more] quickly from any challenges when we have people that love and care for us. We are one community.”
Their goal is to have the house made into a home for Thomas in time for her to make new memories in it this Christmas.
“It’s a miracle on 32nd Street," Thomas said.