COLUMBIA, S.C. — A family in Columbia's Rosewood community is staying in their home, after the community came together to help them avoid eviction.
When Hymesha Ellis was diagnosed with a blood infection in May, her doctor said she couldn’t work and tried everything she could think of to avoid getting behind on rent.
“In my closet having breakdowns, out of sight of my kids,” Ellis said. “Cause I’m in my mind, ‘what are we gonna do?’ I have exhausted all options, called all the shelters. Nobody over here has room for a family the size of mine.”
With time running out and bills continuing to come in, she says she decided to post her story online. A mother of five children. A family that has experienced homelessness before. A sudden diagnosis that left her unable to work.
To Ellis's surprise, people began messaging her and offering help. One of them encouraged her to make a GoFundMe.
“I just wanted to get on top of my situation,” Ellis said. “Because I’ve been out of work for 2 months, and doing that, we didn’t have no income coming in.”
She posted the link in their neighborhood group despite not knowing anyone in the area.
From there, neighbors like Catherine Fleming Bruce shared it even further.
“So I said, well, one thing that I can do is to take it to my other social media platforms,” Fleming Bruce said. “I’m on Twitter and on Instagram. So I put it on Twitter and whenever people started donating, I let people know, 'hey, this thing is moving, and we can actually get her to the finish line'.”
In a matter of days, over 70 people donated enough to keep the family in their home, the first house where her kids weren’t all in one room.
Her goal was $2,600, just enough to avoid eviction. As of Thursday afternoon, the total is over $3,200.
“The fact that the community came together for me like that was amazing,” Ellis said. “I cried. When I hit the 2,600 mark, I literally cried. I was in the car and my mom was like ‘what’s wrong with you’ and I was like, ‘they did it’!”
“She allowed us to help, and that’s a gift for us,” Fleming Bruce said. “You know, every time you’re able to do that, that makes us better and more aware and more connected people, so she’s doing us a favor.”
Ellis says she is thinking of ways to give back to the community that came together to help her and her family.