ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996 TAG: 9606270074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: EMPORIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY - combined with hard work and a little publicity - lifted the eight Ramseys out of abysmal living conditions and into a decent home.
Seven months ago, Magdalene Ramsey and her seven children lived in one room of a house with a crumbling foundation, sagging floors and no running water.
The Ramseys filled milk cartons with water from an outdoor pump; the toilet was an outdoor shed too filthy for human use.
Their plight, described by The Associated Press in November, prompted a flood of donations from many people, including a man who was dying of cancer and children who sent money they had saved to buy Christmas presents.
An Emporia resident donated an apartment, allowing the Ramseys to move immediately out of their dilapidated cinder block house with rotting wooden floors. In winter, all seven slept in the clutter of a single bedroom, warmed by a kerosene heater.
This month, the Ramseys moved into a tidy three-bedroom house with beige vinyl siding, brown shutters and central heating.
``I call the whole thing a miracle, that's what it is,'' said Ramsey, a seamstress who earns minimum wage as she works toward a computer science degree at Southside Virginia Community College.
Among those moved by the Ramseys' plight was Larry Barber of Pinnacle, N.C. He was returning home from cancer treatments at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland when he met and prayed with the family. The day after Christmas, he wrote the Ramseys a check for $1,000. Three weeks later, he died.
``It's a sad time,'' said his widow, Sheila Barber, ``but it's a happy moment to know that they were able to have things turn out happy for them. The Lord touched his heart to do it.''
In addition to money, people donated food, clothes, china, silverware, chairs and an abundance of Christmas gifts. Greensville County officials, primarily housing coordinator Gladys Vassor, and the state's indoor Plumbing and Rehabilitation Loan Program also played key roles in helping the Ramseys.
Vassor said she decided to help them because Ramsey was trying to help herself. Ramsey has a 3.2 grade-point average. Her eldest son, 13-year-old Eddie, is an honor roll student.
The Ramseys received $9,125 in private donations, all of which went toward financing a $35,500 house and $2,500 lot, Vassor said.
The indoor plumbing program provided funding for half the value of the house. Ramsey, 47, has to pay about one-fourth of the project's cost through a low-interest mortgage.
The Ramseys still have only one bed - the double bed in which they all slept in the old house. Eddie sleeps on the carpeted floors and says they're comfortable. Stephen, 7, disagrees: ``It's itchy,'' he said.
Joshua, 11, is impressed with the novelty of indoor plumbing and clean, running water. ``It's easier, having water in the sinks,'' he said.
And Kendra, 4, realized her dream of frolicking in a bubble bath the day after the family moved in, Ramsey said.
The Ramseys' plight was hardly an isolated case. As of the end of last year, an estimated 46,000 Virginia households lacked indoor plumbing, mostly rural poor in the southern third of the state, the Eastern Shore and Southwestern Virginia.
In the decade since it started, the plumbing loan program has provided about 24,000 families with running water.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Magdalene Ramsey (center) and her seven childrenby CNBleft behind a broken-down home with a shed for a toilet and
eventually moved to this three-bedroom house in Emporia. Its indoor
plumbing and clean, running water were a novelty to the children.