In 2021, contractor Steven Chastain promised to do repairs in the home of elderly couple Dorothy and George Williams. Chastain and his team began work on the house by stripping the inside but never finished the project after being paid $60,000, the couple said.
After the contractor reportedly disappeared with the couple’s money, they endured three Atlanta winters in a house with no heat, running water, electricity or even interior walls, AJC.com reported. The couple slept on two single air mattresses covered in thin sheets in their house on Fontaine Avenue in southwest Atlanta. They even slept in their car if it was too cold.
In 2023, Dorothy, 73, had to be rushed to Grady Hospital with blood clots after one of her legs froze in the cold.
After their story was reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC.com) in July, filmmaker and billionaire Tyler Perry intervened and told the couple that he was “going to pay for everything.”
“She started praising God, she couldn’t even get a word out for a while, because that’s how desperate she was,” the media mogul told AJC.com about his chat with Dorothy. “And she had been in and out of hospital because of the stress from what this person did. I’m definitely going to make sure they are OK.”
Today, the couple, who have been together for 34 years, are back in their home thanks to Perry and his construction team who worked fast to get the home repaired.
In November, Dorothy even celebrated her birthday in the house with her family and she was so excited to have used a dishwasher for the first time.
“It was heaven, I’m just so happy,” she said. “We don’t have to be in the cold this winter.”
Cameron Franklin, one of Dorothy’s grandchildren, described the gathering during Thanksgiving as “emotional”.
“It’s really amazing, we were able to sit down and eat and joke and have fun,” he said. “Sometimes God comes through and answers your prayers.”
Dorothy and George Williams’ favorite spot in the newly remodeled home house is the kitchen counter, where they often sit to talk about the future. They are considering fostering a child in the home and going skydiving.
Perry, known for his charity work, recently also made a $400,000 pledge to help fix the property of actress Cocoa Brown and her son Phoenix after they lost the home in a house fire in February.
In October 2023, Perry began building a new home for 93-year-old Josephine Wright after developers tried to force her out of her South Carolina property.
