She Was Evicted at 88, and Then a Neighbor Stepped Up

Angie Tyma's neighbor bought the elderly woman's house back
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 13, 2016 12:00 PM CST

Angie Tyma had lived in the same Hudson, Fla., home for 35 years—and when the then-88-year-old was recently evicted due to foreclosure, her neighborhood came together to make sure she could continue living in it. Tyma and her husband initially owned the house, but after his death, a family friend bought it and rented it to Tyma. Unbeknownst to Tyma, that person had since stopped paying the mortgage; the bank foreclosed on her and booted Tyma from the home when an investment company bought it at auction—padlocking the door and leaving Tyma's belongings in the streets. That was Nov. 16, and her neighbors went into action, making sure her belongings were stored and her two dogs had a place to stay, the Tampa Bay Times reports. But one neighbor went even further.

Tyma approached Danielle Calder, 65, and asked Calder to buy the house and rent it to her—and Calder agreed. Tyma moved back in on Tuesday, her 89th birthday. "Quite honestly, I didn't need another house," Calder tells Today. "But I needed her. I couldn't see her living in a motel room ... she's been here so long. Everyone looks out for her." Calder says Tyma is "the fabric of the neighborhood," adding that "everybody knows" the "feisty" lady. Before Tyma moved back in, neighbors moved all her belongings back into the house and gave it a fresh coat of paint. Said Tyma, "Usually one of my neighbors bakes me a cake every year, but this time, when I got out of the car, and saw all these people, and the media ... I was in a state of shock. ... I never expected I would make the front page!" (More uplifting news stories.)

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