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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: 769 Stories
Stuart Hometown Foods Stuart, Iowa

40-Year Dedication to Small-Town Grocery Stores

While growing or producing all of their own fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat is an option for some rural Iowa families, nearly every household today makes regular trips to grocery store. But fewer local grocery stores across the state mean more rural Iowans now live in food-… [Read More]
REAP
Henry Smith, wearing his World War II uniform coat because he had just had pictures taken in it, plays the lawn game Cornhole at Milnwood Village Apartments in Farmville.

A Hero in Farmville

On January 14 this year Henry Smith stepped off of a plane and onto Belgian soil for the first time in more than 70 years. Right away the setting was familiar to him. “It’s going to snow,” he said to his family as the chill in the air and low-hanging clouds echoed conditions he… [Read More]
HousingMulti-Family
family happy to be home

A Mother and Three Children Find Stability in Their Home

After the Peters family moved from Rapid City, SD to Chadron, NE for a job opportunity, Alyssa decided that she needed a home of her own to provide some stability for her children Emma, 11, Matthew, 9, and Carter, 6, by giving them their own space.  Alyssa searched… [Read More]
Homeownership

A New Roof Over Their Heads, Fresh Cut Grass Under Their Feet

For Leon and Priscille Boucher of Berlin, New Hampshire, a new roof meant they could use their pots and pans for cooking rather than collecting the water dripping from the ceiling. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development funded roof rehabilitation, but… [Read More]
Home Repair
Jill Burcham, pastor at Push Ministries in Galax, applied for and received a USDA Rural Development direct home loan in 2015. She now helps her Push Ministries clients navigate the same process to become homeowners themselves.

A P.U.S.H. for Homeownership in Galax

Jill Burcham has spent the last nine years building P.U.S.H. Ministries, an organization in Galax that today helps nearly 800 people per month put food on tables, learn life skills, transition from prison and climb out of addiction. This year, in an attempt to further help her… [Read More]
HomeownershipHousing
Dr. Keelan Lewis and patient

A Rural Partnership for the Future

For rural communities, it’s all about the ongoing challenge of creating and maintaining jobs.  In Seymour, Texas, the city’s Community Development Corporation decided to utilize Rural Development’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant program to stimulate the City’s business… [Read More]
RBEG
Donnell Family

A White House, not “the White House”, With a Beautiful Yard

The Joe & Danielle Donnell family have been living in their new home, a white house with a porch and a beautiful back yard with a running creek next to it, for nearly nine months now.   “We feel blessed to have a place where our family can grow together,” said Joe… [Read More]
Housing
Alliant Service Teritory

Acquisition of Alliant Service Territories By 12 Rural Cooperatives

The RUS Electric Program provided financing to 10 of the 12 electric cooperatives involved in the acquisition of the Alliant service territory.  The Electric Program provided a total of nearly $125 million.  The total acquisition cost was about $127 million.  In… [Read More]
ElectricRural Development
Members of Virginia Housing Development Authority, Surber Development LLC, and USDA Rural Development Virginia gather to cut ribbon at Lily Ridge Apartments ribbon cutting ceremony.

Affordable Housing Celebrated

USDA Rural Development national office employees applauded the completion of Lily Ridge Apartments in Ruckersville at a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house in early November. The ceremony celebrated the development of affordable rental homes that can house nearly 50 families… [Read More]
Multi-FamilyHousing
Demonstrating the Niles equipment at Atlanta Gear Works

Atlanta Gear Works, Inc. Fills Niche Market for the Southeast U.S.

Established in 1988, Atlanta Gear Works Inc. inspects, rebuilds and re-machines critical gear boxes for various industries. To remain competitive and to grow, they needed to purchase additional machinery and equipment and refinance debt. In 2010, USDA Rural Development provided… [Read More]
Business

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