Love Your Neighbor: Tammy’s Story

Early one January morning, Tamar Davis – or Tammy, as she prefers – slept peacefully in her home with her grandson nearby. He woke to see smoke circling the room, and then quickly ran next door to his aunt’s home. Tammy has mobility and breathing challenges that make it hard for her to move and she needed help. Black smoke quickly filled the house, but the family got Tammy and everyone safely outside. 

Firefighters soon arrived and doused the flames, discovering that most of the damage centered in a spare room. This room housed her daughter’s business equipment and other items including all new clothes that Tammy’s granddaughter had gotten for Christmas. As devastating as that was, the family also lost their dog in the fire. 

“Unfortunately, my dog didn’t make it out of the house,” Tammy said. “She was getting old and already deaf. But she was always there for me. I don’t know how, but somehow she knew when I wasn’t breathing well because of my COPD. If I was asleep and having trouble breathing, she would wake me up.”

Despite her losses, Tammy says she and her family are blessed. 

“It’s just a Godsend that we got out of the house. We think about that more than anything,” she said. 

Tammy and her family have now begun to pick up the pieces, taking their first steps on the long road to recovery. Through ADRN and Hope Family Thrift Store, they have replaced some lost clothing, and received some gift cards provided by H-E-B had also recently donated several gifts to ADRN, which ADRN provided to the family to purchase other necessities they needed.

They’re also working with electricians and contractors to rebuild. 

“We’ll probably be out of our home for four weeks, but it’s a blessing that so many people have helped us. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” she said. 

Love your neighbor. We see this message sprinkled throughout our Bibles starting with the first time Moses uttered those words in Leviticus 19:18. 

Generation later, when a lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor was, Christ didn’t define the term by proximity. Instead, He said our neighbor is the person who has been battered and bruised and needs someone to pick them up and help them heal.

Disasters batter and bruise lives like Tammy’s. They destroy homes, belongings, and more. Survivors need someone to lift them up to help them through the difficulties of a disaster. Jesus tells us to love our neighbors in need.

You can join us and love your neighbors through ADRN and the Hope Family Thrift Store. This month, our goal is to raise the funds and be ready to support 250 families when they need it most. Give your gift today at adrn.org/love-your-neighbor.

It's just a Godsend that we got out of the house. We think about that more than anything.

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