August 18, 2026

By Sara Millhouse

Her daughter grew up, and over time, the little house built in 1929 started to show the wear of nearly a century of living. “It was getting a little bad with my floor and things,” said Sheffield, 58.  “I didn’t even want to go in my kitchen.”

When she read in the Donalsonville News about a chance to fund home repairs for Georgia homeowners through the Community HOME Investment Program (CHIP), Sheffield thought she had nothing to lose.

The federally funded CHIP program helps pay for home rehabilitation for qualifying homeowners. With funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the HOME Investment Partnership Program, CHIP aims to provide safe, decent and affordable housing, under the local administration of the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission.

CHIP provides home rehabilitation for people who don’t have the disposable income for big repair costs, especially seniors. This work can make homes safer for resident homeowners and benefit families whose generational savings have been invested in their homes. It also helps keep the local housing stock in good condition, which benefits entire neighborhoods and the tax base.

For many families in rural communities, a home is their largest investment and often the foundation of generational stability. Programs like CHIP help ensure those homes remain safe and livable for years to come.

“If you need help, and you don’t know where it’s going to come from, and your income is modest, like mine was, sign up for it,” Sheffield said. “What’s the worst that could happen? My advice is, ‘Just do it.’”

Program applications are taken well in advance, so Sheffield said she’d nearly forgotten about the possibility when she learned she had qualified for home repairs. But when she learned that her application had been selected, the timing couldn’t have been better.

Not only was her kitchen floor giving in, but Nicole and her young son Lennon Beau were moving in, and the old home still had lead paint on its walls. Lead paint can easily flake off walls and be ingested by children when they crawl on the floor and put their hands or toys in their mouths. 

Even small amounts of lead exposure can cause lifelong brain and nerve damage. “When they came through, that was like a godsend,” Sheffield said. “It’s almost like being a lottery winner.”

CHIP home repairs did more than make the home safe for the family. Workers took a comprehensive look at what was needed to make Sheffield’s home pleasant and comfortable for years to come.

In a span of three weeks, contractors put in new cabinets, repainted and put up sheetrock. They put in an air conditioning unit that keeps the home at an even, comfortable temperature and cuts down on Sheffield’s power bills. The home now has new smoke alarms, and new fascia replaced some of the original, decayed wood from 1929.

“I had a drooping spot on my porch where some of the wood had rotted, and they replaced all that, so I’m able to go out on my porch now and sit and watch life go by in the afternoons when I get home from work,” Sheffield said. “It looks 100% better. I’m so thankful I got chosen.”

Now, Sheffield cooks hearty, nutritious meals in the kitchen she once avoided. “I’m able to cook meals in my kitchen now,” she said. “We love seafood. It’s always seafood and pasta. You can’t go wrong with that.”

The home repairs motivated Sheffield to work in her yard, too. “Now that my house is done and has been repainted, it’s just so much better,” she said. “I don’t mind getting out there trying to keep my yard up. It’s making me make it look better than it already done.”

Though Sheffield has lived at Lake Seminole and in Americus, Georgia, Donalsonville is home. “It’s a good place to live,” she said. “For the most part, everybody’s nice to each other. You know most everybody in town. And my grandchild, it’s a good place to raise him.”

Like many grandparents, Sheffield discovered that she now has the wisdom, time and perspective to appreciate all the new things her grandchild is discovering. “It’s just amazing to watch him grow,” she said. 

Sheffield loves to go with her daughter and grandson to the beach, up the creek or to the nearby natural springs—anywhere near water. If they take a day trip to Panama City Beach, “we come back home to a steady house that’s been stabilized,” she said.

Without CHIP, she might not have been able to stay in the home that she loves. “I don’t even know where I’d be today if that grant wouldn’t have come through,” Sheffield said. “It afforded me to be able to keep living in my hometown and living in the same place I’ve been for 30 years and get to see my grandson grow up here. It’s been a blessing all the way around.”