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Success Stories

A mother and three daughters pose around a dining room table. There are lace curtains and blue wall in the background and some dishes on the table in the foreground.

“This is Home” – A Family Finds Their Forever Home in Calais, Maine

One of the first rooms Heather Gagne and her daughters began redecorating in their new home is the dining room, shown in the top photo. They have been busy repainting and making other updates. Raising a family in coastal Machias, Maine may sound lovely, but for Heather Gagne recent years proved stressful. There were few housing options in their Downeast community, and Heather was glad to find a rental home to…
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Use the filters below to find additional stories about how our programs have helped rural communities across the nation.

Search Results: 45 Stories
Smiling elderly woman next to a younger man standing in front of a wooden structure that covers a well in a green lawn.

Senior Finds Speedy Assistance for Reliable Water Source

Peggy McCellan, a senior with limited income, living in Wayne County, West Virginia was faced with a serious situation in 2021. Ms. McCellan did not have a reliable source of water service to her home. In fact, for over a period of 8 months she found herself without any water… [Read More]
Home RepairHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2022Rural Partners NetworkWater
USDA offers loans and grants to low and very low income individuals to make repairs to their homes.

USDA Helps to Make Rural Resident's Home Safer!

Patsy Reckart of Weston, Lewis County, in rural West Virginia is a local author and a senior citizen who one day found herself in need of some home modifications for the sake of her own health and safety. Ms. Reckart had fallen in her bathtub and was unable to get out of the… [Read More]
Home RepairHomeownership
Ms. Cynthia Veal holding flowers

Clear and Dry Forecast for Homeowner, No Matter the Weather

"Every time it would rain, I just felt dread," said Ms. Cynthia Veal, a homeowner in Hull, Georgia. Her family home was in desperate need of repairs. She sought help for a new roof. There wasn’t just one place the roof leaked during rainy weather, the entire flat roof was… [Read More]
Home RepairHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2022Housing
McDowell's Forever Home in Ponca, Nebraska

USDA Rural Development Reflects on Recent Success with Nebraska Homeowner in Ponca

In September 2020, Julie McDowell of Ponca, Nebraska needed a new furnace and air conditioner for her home. The situation felt dire. Not only was the harsh Nebraska winter on its way, but her old furnace was filling her home with dangerous carbon monoxide. When she bought the… [Read More]
Home RepairHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2022
Two smiling women on porch of a large old home with wrap around porch

Down but Not Out: RD Helps a Neighbor Recover & Rebuild

Elizabeth McCartney never gives up, and she never gives in. A single mom who raised six children on her own, she ascended the career ladder from grocery-store worker to medical researcher through hard work and intensive education culminating in a master’s degree. But it was the… [Read More]
Home RepairHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2022
Yellow one-story house with a smiling woman on the porch.

Customer Recommends USDA for Home Repairs!

"I want to tell you what a wonderful experience I had working with USDA Rural Development..." began the customer appreciation letter written by senior citizen Connie Henson, of Spencer, West Virginia. Ms. Henson wrote, "I needed a new roof for my house and at my age wasn’t sure… [Read More]
Home RepairHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2022
Sylvia Hancock with Mountain TOP and USDA RD Representatives

Peace, Love, and Harmony

A continuous partnership between USDA Rural Development and Mountain T.O.P. has helped more than 300 families in the Cumberland Plateau with much needed home repairs. Mountain T.O.P. has received a total of 12 Housing Preservation Grants  to help qualified very-low and low… [Read More]
Home Repair
Solar panels being installed

Home repair loan helps family drastically cut electric bills

Keeping the electric on was crippling the Maggard family. Electric bills ranging from $300-$600 per month ate up the majority of the family’s fixed income. HOMES Inc., one of Rural Development’s strong housing partners in Eastern Kentucky, led a project combining funding… [Read More]
EnergyHome RepairHomeownershipHousingRural DevelopmentSolar Energy
Mendoza Home Repair

Bringing Hope for a Hero through Home Repair

Raymond Mendoza, a retired United States Air Force Veteran, has been a homeowner for over 40 years and felt the overwhelming expense of home maintenance on a fixed income. That’s where the USDA Rural Development Section 504 Home Repair Program was able to help. The Section 504… [Read More]
Home Repair
enny Taylor shows off her refurbuished home after receing a through a USDA Hosuing and Preservation Grant helped repair her failing septic system that was damaging her home.

USDA Helps Single Mom Save Her Home

It is a good day when we are able to reach out and directly effect the lives of people in our state. Penny Taylor was recently divorced. Her home’s aging septic service was failing and damaging her home and yard. Due to her limited income she was unable to afford to have the… [Read More]
Home Repair

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