Friends and supporters have rushed to the aid of military mom Patricia Roberts just days before she was to be evicted from her Lithonia home.
Roberts, whose son, Spc. Jamaal Addison, was the first Georgian killed in the Iraq conflict, was packing her belongings early this week to abandon the condominium she shares with her ailing mother and her grandson.
After The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on her troubles Wednesday, a group called Grandmothers for Peace set up a fund in Addison’s name to help his family find a home. Roberts made friends with Doris Benit, one of the “Grandmothers,” since both have become active anti-war protesters.
The Jamaal Addison Fund was established at the Delta Community Credit Union, 1025 Virginia Ave., Atlanta, Ga. 30054. (For information call 404-715-4725 or 1-800-544-3328. There are 21 Atlanta location; see www.deltacommunitycu.com/)
“I’m very grateful,” said Roberts. “I’m going to try and obtain a residence, and I’m very grateful.”
Georgia state Sen. Vincent D. Fort, (D-Atlanta) said Wednesday “I sat with her this morning, had prayer with her, and advised her there was a lot of community support for her.”
After Addison was killed, Roberts adopted his child, Jamaal Addison II, a toddler at the time.
Since then she has survived lung cancer and her 77-year-old mother, Constance Walcott, who owns the condominium, began developing early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, Roberts said.
Roberts worked as a clerk with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, but said she had to leave that job because of health problems and the difficulty of scheduling child care around rotating shifts. They fell behind in payments for the condo. Much of Addison’s death benefit was paid to his widow, who is not the mother of his child and has not been in contact with the family, Roberts said.
The condo was foreclosed June 1, she said, and she was told to vacate the Fairington Park property by Monday, Aug. 2.
Sun Trust has since offered an extension on that deadline, she said. Benit, who helped organize the fund drive, said her group has received many offers of assistance for Roberts, and she expects the community will keep a roof over the their heads, either in the condo or elsewhere.
“I told her to go shopping for a house,” said Benit.
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