Community takes action to help neighbors still rebuilding during pandemic

ATLANTA - A community is stepping up to help its neighbors as many families still rebuild during this pandemic.

People in Adair Park are taking action to make sure their neighbors can stay next-door.

Several people are trying to raise $10,000 to help cover multiple expenses.

In addition to keeping folks in their homes, organizers hope this will inspire other communities to take on a similar effort.

"We are an historic neighborhood," J. Lawrence Miller, the President of Adair Park Today, explained. "One of the few in Atlanta."

It's a community rich with history.

Miller told us "neighbors who have been here 20, 30, 40, 50 years."

But many people, including legacy residents, could soon be forced to find a new place to lay their heads.

Miller said several factors like unemployment has some of his neighbors falling behind on their bills.

"Taxes over here have increased by 400 percent - four times what it was eight years ago. We don't want our neighbors, who have been here for years, to leave because of gentrification or COVID," he detailed.

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To help keep the lights on, a few people came together and created the GoFundMe.

Alyssa Thys's family immediately took action afterward.

"I was not surprised to hear that people right here in our neighborhood were struggling but I felt a strong sense of responsibility help," Thys explained.

Anyone in Adair Park in need can get up to $500.

"In order to help with rental assistance, in order to help with utility assistance. Sometimes it's needed for deferred maintenance," Miller told Reporter Brian Hill.

Miller, who's been here for eight years, hopes their effort encourages other communities to take action.

"This is important especially if you want to keep legacy residents in place. They're the ones that created the foundation that the neighborhood is built on today," he said.

He told us they've already started receiving an application for assistance.

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