Alice Dunn has a beautiful tree in her yard, and for a while, she used to stand under it and hope to find an answer to some of the challenges she was facing. The roof of her home was beginning to fail. A broken window in her kitchen put her security at risk. And her heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit was on its last leg.

Living on a fixed income in rural Georgia, she wasn’t sure how she could afford the work her home needed. When she heard about a new program offered in her area, she jumped at the opportunity. A day after reaching out to the Save on Utilities Long Term (SOUL) program, offered by the nonprofit Groundswell, someone from the organization arrived on her doorstep to assess the type of help she needed.

“The day the new roof went up, you talk about happy. I had never been so happy in my life,” Dunn said. “Not because it was free. But because this answered my prayers. There are people that care about your needs.”

A few years ago, Groundswell introduced its SOUL program, utilizing a variety of funding sources, including Community Development Block Grants and the USDA Housing Preservation Grant Program. The program assists low-income homeowners in rural areas with their utility bills while improving their energy efficiency and home comfort. 

Groundswell as an organization focuses on building clean energy programs for low-and-moderate-income homes. It partners with municipal utilities and rural electric co-ops to offer homeowners a Pay As You Save finance option that minimizes the barriers to accessing energy efficiency upgrades and reduces the financial burden associated with these upgrades. The program also leverages grant funding to support home repairs, mitigating health and safety hazards.

For Dunn, there wasn’t really another way for her to complete the repairs and updates she needed to make on her home, which she built with her husband in 1997 in the rural Georgia town of Pine Mountain. When her husband became ill, she said they had to utilize whatever savings they had to make sure he received treatment. She became a widow in 2009, and the SOUL program was the first opportunity she saw that gave her hope that she could complete the improvements her home needed.

“This made a difference in my mental status,” she said, explaining how the weight of the needed improvements added stress to her life. “I didn’t have to worry about my safety, or the rain coming in or the cold. All those three factors made a difference in my life. When I lay down at night, I can truly rest and feel good about what’s going on outside.”

Dunn appreciates the peace of mind she is experiencing thanks to the new roof, window, and HVAC system, and she especially loves sharing her experience with the SOUL program with others in a hometown that she describes as “quiet and peaceful.” She wants them to know there are resources available to help, even in their rural area.

“They answered my ‘what-ifs.’ And, I share blessings. That’s the type of person I am,” she said. “And for us to be able to get this kind of program in rural Georgia, that says a lot.”

Beyond keeping her warm, soothing her arthritis, making her feel safer, and reducing her overall utility bills, the repairs Dunn received through the SOUL program have extended her independence. And that’s priceless to her. 

“When you start to do what’s right with your home, you get to the point where you can’t afford it. What can you do? You need your independence and you don’t want to live with your kids or an apartment. I had hoped to keep my independence a little longer,” she said. “This is bigger than you can imagine. It made a world of difference for how I live my life.”