Volunteers build hope for mom of five
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

Contributed Photo Happy Day Demetria Smith is shown on her new ramp-accessed porch with her children Courtland, 13; Courtnei, 11; and 5-year-old twins Taylor and Tyler. Her son Daniel, 6, was too shy to pose for the photographer.

Demetria Smith has faced more than her fair share of troubles in the last few years, but a community effort helped ease those woes just a bit.

Smith, the mother of five children between the ages of 5 and 13, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis a few days before Christmas in 2003. Ruby Bishop is the Smith's grandmother and the great-grandmother of her five children and takes care of Smith and her children every day.

To add insult to injury, Smith's home burned April 7 of this year, destroying all the family's belongings including their vehicles.

Family and friends in the community pulled together to help the family in their time of need with clothing, food and other basics, and they lived with relatives for a few months until they were able to find a trailer on FM 2645.

But the trailer home came with steep stairs and was in need of a ramp. Smith spoke with the Family Service Department at El Campo Head Start and they started working to help to get her a ramp.

Contributed Photo Got It! Members of the First Baptist Church of Bay City volunteer group knocked out this entire ramp and porch project in one day. Shown in this photo are, from left: Gary Parkey, Billy Wellborn and Mike Pruitt.

"We contacted several local establishments for assistance and came up with two organizations that wanted to help the Smith family," said James Rhodes of Head Start.

"Fathers United For Children," a group organized within the Head Start program to promote positive fatherhood role models, sponsored the materials needed to build the ramp and modest porch.

"One other local person, the Rev. Robert L. Anderson Sr., pastor of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, assisted us with this project," Rhodes said.

Anderson spoke with Casey Dubose, executive director of the Colorado Baptist Association (with offices in Wharton), and found a group willing to build the porch and ramp for the Smith family.

The volunteer group came from the First Baptist Church of Bay City, led by Pastor Mike Zimmerman.

"This volunteer group - Mike Pruitt, Paul Hanna, Paul Vela, Billy Wellborn and Gary Parkey - consists of some great guys that dedicate their valuable free time helping the less fortunate people of different communities," Rhodes said.

On Dec. 7, those men came to El Campo and completed the porch and ramp for the Smith family.

"The guys from the First Baptist Church of Bay City were probably the best representatives of Christian brotherhood that I have ever seen," Rhodes said. "They worked diligently and you could tell that it was coming straight from their hearts."

He said Smith was so happy with the porch and ramp "that it just brought tears to her eyes."

"This family is still in need of many things because Ms. Smith's challenges with life itself are growing larger day by day," Rhodes said.

If anyone is interested in helping the Smith family with other needs, they may be reached at (979) 532-5988.