Angie Tyma has lived in her home in Hudson, Florida, for 35 years. She shared the house with her two dogs, Pepper and Ralphie, and was close with the neighbors.
That all changed on November 16, when her landlord tossed her belongings onto the street and padlocked the door, effectively making Tyma homeless at the age of 88. Tyma had been subletting the house from a friend who lived in Europe.
The friend apparently ran into some financial issues and stopped paying the mortgage on the house, and so the landlord foreclosed and sold the house at auction, kicking Tyma out in the process. She didn't even know it was happening until the new owners showed up and forced her out.
Tyma wasn't about to take this lying down, despite her age.
Her neighbors knew her as a feisty lady who wasn't afraid to swear or speak her mind, and who could still dance the Twist, so they rallied around her, like good neighbors do.
Some took in her belongings for safe keeping, and others paid for storage for the larger items. One worked at a motel and helped set up Tyma and her dogs in a room.
"They treated me very well," Tyma said, "but I swear to God I felt like I was in prison."
All she wanted was her home back.
Finally, she and a neighbor cooked up an idea to save her home. But what Tyma didn't know was how she'd get her beloved home back.
[H/T: Tampa Bay Times]
Angie Tyma lived in this home in Hudson, Florida, for 35 years.
After her husband of 58 years passed away, a friend bought the house and rented it to Tyma.
The friend ran into some money troubles, though, and the house was foreclosed and sold at auction — all without Tyma's knowledge.
She didn't know about any of it until she came home one day to find the landlord and the new owners there, and they forced her out and threw all of her things onto the street.
Tyma, understandably was shocked and horrified that these people could be so callous.
She was given a 24-hour notice and escorted off the property — the property of the house she'd called home for more than three decades.
The neighbors were horrified too. Over the years, they'd come to love Tyma's energy, and they knew they had to help her out.
"I wanted to buy the house," says neighbor Danielle Calder, 65, who splits her time between Florida and Boston. "I wanted her back home."
Calder and Tyma worked out a plan.
Calder agreed to buy the house back for $167,500, and was able to get everything together in time. Tyma would then rent the house from Calder.
"It was worth it," Calder says. "I'm blessed to be able to help her."
So, while Tyma knew she could go back home, she didn't know that Calder and the rest of the neighbors were planning something else — just in time for Tyma's 89th birthday.
They all chipped in to spruce up the house, giving it a fresh coat of paint and moving all of Tyma's belongings, which they'd been saving for her, back into the home.
Calder and the neighbors planned everything so that Tyma would come home on her birthday.
Everyone turned out to help.
Calder kept the paint job and the furnishings under wraps, so when Tyma was brought back home on her birthday, she was greeted by a fresh coat of paint and the smiling faces of her community. Calder handed her the keys.
"She's like the mayoress of the neighborhood," Calder says. "Everybody loves her. She's part of the fabric of the community. It was just the right thing to do."
Tyma will now be able to spend her days with Pepper and Ralphie in the home she loves so much, thanks to Calder and the neighbors who looked out for her in her time of need. Needless to say, Tyma was thrilled.
Watch the video below to see Tyma enter her home again!
