Joseph Shelton cooked a meal in his house on Tuesday for the first time in 14 years. He has lived without electricity or running water since 1996 and was happy to continue that way until the city of Columbus gave him 30 days to turn on his utilities.
Shelton”s house on 22nd Street North was in violation of the International Property Management Code of 2006, which requires a short list of essentials for sanitary living.
On Friday, thanks to the community rallying around him, Shelton reconnected the electrical wires to his house. On Monday, he had light. On Tuesday, he tossed some chitlins in a crock pot with some broth, an onion, a few jalepenos, and before long he had a stew going.
“That”s the first meal I”ve had with the lights on,” Shelton said, smiling. Before, most of his meals came straight from a can.
The radio was tuned to a gospel station, mimicking Shelton”s mood with an upbeat praise song.
“I feel good,” he said. “It”s an inspiration. Always try to keep your head up, man.”
In the past two weeks, neighbors, friends and churches have come together to gut Shelton”s home and try to get it up to code. Gone are the bikes, wires and old drapes that filled the back rooms. Shelton has stripped the dirty, warped linoleum that covered the floors and plans to put in some discarded carpet he found at the store. Melchie and Jessie Koonce, who previously complained to the city about the condition of the house, even gave Shelton tar for his roof. Pictures of his son, daughter and grandchildren are all that remain on the walls.
“Joseph is like a family member to us,” said Lou Knox, a neighbor on 21st Street. “He will help anybody. He”s kind; he”s pleasant. There”s nothing I wouldn”t do for him.”
Knox and other friends — Albert Williams and Alfred Walker — from the Sanders Chapel church family have helped Shelton, but she was modest about the specifics.
“It”s not about show and tell,” she said. “It”s about what God wants us to do. That”s what you call coming together as a people.”
Walking away from Knox”s house, Shelton said he was grateful for the support he has received.
“I feel good,” he said. “We”ve always looked out for each other. Times have changed a little, but we still have a lot of family values.”
As Shelton sat on his front steps drinking lemonade, he made a mental list of work still to be done.
“There”s still a lot to go: a little plumbing and a little carpentry work,” he said. “I want to get it in tip-top shape so I don”t have any problems passing the inspection.”
His friend Bernard Harris pulled up in a black truck.
“Yo, Joseph!” Harris called. “You got your lights on?”
“Yeah!” Shelton yelled back. “Can you see the light?”
“Oh, Lord,” Harris said. “You need some saws?”
“Yeah, man,” Shelton said. “Now you”re talking. Bring them all because I”ve got to take out that floor.”
His biggest question now is how he”s going to fund his new electrical and water services in the future.
“I can”t work for nobody,” he said. “You”ve got to work hours. If you sit down on the job, you get fired.”
Shelton is worried about sitting down on the job because of a host of ailments: back spasms, knee pain, heart problems, arthritis, liver issues, high blood pressure.
At a physical he had about three months ago, it was the doctor”s opinion that he ought to qualify for disability payments. Still, his case has been rejected four or five times. He”s trying again, and he”s relying heavily on being approved this time to pay his new utility bills.
“If it doesn”t come through, I don”t know,” he said. “I”ll cut a yard or something — something that won”t keep me on my feet all day.”
The instability of the eggs-in-one-basket approach isn”t lost on Shelton. A penny dropped from his wallet and clattered on the concrete in front of his house. He retrieved it quickly.
“I need every penny I can get,” he said. “Can”t let that one get away.”
For now, Shelton”s utilities are being funded by Genesis Church, which is located on 18th Avenue North, one street over from his house. Seven months ago, the church moved into the old Stokes-Beard Elementary School and began a vision of teaching, serving and being a catalyst for change in the area.
“We work to see the transformation in people,” said Pastor Darren Leach. “The houses will follow the people. If you ever get a little bit of hope, that stuff”s addictive.”
When church members found out about Shelton”s situation two weeks ago, they swooped in to provide aid. They put Shelton up at a hotel for a week and picked him up each morning to work on the house. They painted, did flooring work and helped clean.
Room by room, they stripped out the clutter and put it on the curb all the way around his house. Because Shelton hasn”t paid for utilities in years, the city garbage collectors were under no obligation to remove the trash. They did anyway.
In the eyes of Genesis Church, Shelton has undergone a serious transformation.
“He”s a new man,” said Kenneth McFarland, the church”s outreach coordinator. “He”s laughing again.”
Whether Shelton deserves the help or not is a question Leach finds irrelevant.
“If a person makes great decisions for their whole life, they usually don”t end up in those kind of situations,” Leach said. “Just by the nature that this is where we are, you kind of have to know there were probably a couple of left turns when he should have gone right. When somebody that cares meets with someone who needs somebody to care at the right time, great things happen.”
Of course, there is an element of personal responsibility that accompanies the aid. What Shelton chooses to do in the future with the help he has received in the past couple of weeks is ultimately his choice. Leach and McFarland aren”t worried.
“If he doesn”t, we”ll feel good because we (helped),” Leach said. “The results — that”s somebody else”s department. Our job is just to do good when we have chances.”
On Wednesday, they plan to have a cookout at Shelton”s house and bring some of the children from the youth ministry so they can learn how to serve others.
Helping someone in Shelton”s situation — and there are plenty of similar cases in Columbus — requires sacrifices on the part of other community residents. Addie and Daniel Talley heard about Shelton”s situation after reading a story in the Aug. 1 Commercial Dispatch.
“You have a human element,” Daniel said. “Where else is he going to go? Under an underpass? It was complex, but it looked so fixable.”
The Talleys are by no means rolling in cash. They”re married with two young children. Daniel is a screen-printer at Sports Specialty and a full-time student at MUW. Addie works at CECO Buildings and is a photographer on the side. They”re thinking of adopting, and they”ve worked in youth ministry in the past.
Rather than give a lump sum to Shelton, they chose to help him practically, and last week they met with Leach at Military Hardware and bought a water heater.
“We don”t drive huge cars; we don”t live in a fancy home; we work hard for every dollar,” Daniel said. “It”s a few months” worth of different budgeting but hopefully years and years of hot water for Mr. Shelton. We do this in good faith that he can take this and move forward.”
Shelton”s bedroom ceiling is still black with soot from a time when kerosene lanterns gave him his only light. He held one of the old lanterns and looked at it, turning it over in his hands.
“I”ll keep this thing around for emergencies,” he said. “You never know; the lights may go out one night.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.