They had to help

People from Lake Highlands and around the Metroplex are spending their weekends in an old south Oak Cliff neighborhood

Story by Chrisitna Hughes Babb | Photo by Can Turkyilmaz

Last summer, Lake Highlands High School alumna Wendy Werther Haynes saw a story on the news that she couldn’t get out of her head. Today, she and a group of new friends spend their weekends working to repair the south Oak Cliff home of an 85-yearold man they hardly know.

Vernon Freeman lost his home in an electrical fire. His neighbor Robert King recalls the night it happened.

“The son and Mr. Freeman come running out in their boxers, no shoes he lost every- thing in the fire. Even his hearing aid.”

Freeman, along with son Levon and granddaughter Marsha, rented a place nearby, but each day he walked back to the charred remains of his house, where he labored and cleaned in an attempt to fix things. His toil was of little use. Most days, he wound up sitting on the porch, in the Texas summer heat, no water or electricity for comfort.

A WFAA news crew showed up one day and ran a story about the aging yet spry man who couldn’t let his house go.

As a result of posting a comment about that story on Facebook, Haynes met another woman, Kristi Huls, who was equally tortured by the thought of Freeman, alone — day-after-day, month-upon-month — at the destroyed house.

And rather than simply lamenting the details from behind their computer screens, these women — both of whom have full-time jobs — did something astounding. They got together and drove across town to south Oak Cliff, where they introduced themselves to

Freeman, who was on his roof at the time, and asked if they could help him.

And they did. Haynes’s husband is a remodeler. Huls’s is an electrician. The women employed their husbands and then used social media to garner more manpower and supplies. Lumber, plumbing, concrete, roofing, a dumpster and port-a-potty — just to name a few — have been donated, and the home is well on its way to being reborn.

Haynes’s mother, Lake Highlands resident Mitzi Werther, has spent many days volunteering at the site and says she is flummoxed by the response.

He has helped all of us at one time or another, so everybody comes out to help.

“Wendy and Kristi found each other, started this group on Facebook and then all these people started showing up,” Werther says.

Much of the help came via the Friends of Vernon Freeman group.

Vernon’s Oak Cliff neighbors were a little suspicious at first, when all of these unfamiliar people started showing up in their neighborhood, Werther says. But they all knew Mr. Freeman.

“He has helped all of us at one time or another,” King says, “so everybody comes out to help.” to find out how you can help visit Facebook/friendsofvernonfreeman. Paypal donations are being accepted, as are hard workers. This group is toiling away and receiving help from scores of Samaritans, but they still need funds to finish the project.

Freeman himself is, of course, working dawn until dusk. And, these days, it seems the smile hardly ever leaves his face.

Mr. Freeman and the volunteers at work

Visit lakehighlands.advocatemag.com.

Search: Vernon Freeman