As magnolia and oak trees cast enough shade to protect the people sending up prayers of gratitude on the last afternoon of March, there was enough sunshine to illuminate the North Riverside residence that will remain in the Daniels family for years to come.
“This means a whole lot to me. I needed a kitchen floor and they did my floor,” Annie Daniels says. “My bathroom was rotting out and they did that. It means a whole lot to me. I appreciate everything they did.”
Annie Daniels has lived in the gray home with white lattice shutters for more than 60 years. Her home on Crystal Street is the first to be renovated through the North Riverside Community Development Corporation Home Repair Program. The $1.2 million program is aimed at helping residents improve their home values in a neighborhood by the banks of McCoys Creek that is in the shadow of the Emerald Trail project and in the crosshairs of developers.
Read the rest of this story at Jacksonville Today, part of WJCT Public Media.