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ROANOKE, Va. – According to a 2022 Blue Ridge Continuum of Care report, there are about 216 people in the Roanoke Valley experiencing homelessness, and a Roanoke native has returned to his hometown to build a solution.
It may look like a small box from the outside but it contains a new opportunity to give one person the opportunity to have a home on the inside.
With windows, lights, and solar panels installed, Brandon Brando designed an 8 feet by 4 feet shelter for people experiencing homelessness.
“We don’t want them to feel like they have to keep moving,” Brando said. “Or they are going to feel pushed off, pushed away, or told to leave. We want them to feel like this is really home sweet home.”
Brando is the creator of ByondMe: new effort to make small homes for people experiencing homelessness.
Brando was born and raised in Roanoke but moved to Atlanta, Georgia a year ago. While he was there, he met a man on the sidewalk who inspired him to try carpentry for the first time and then built him a home in three weeks.
The home Brando created in the Star City is the second one he has ever built.
It took Brando and volunteers five days to install insulation, fans, a small generator, and locks on the door to keep the person’s belongings safe.
The home was created for Dawn, a woman Tiphaney Helm, Brando’s cousin, found on Williamson Road three months ago.
When Helm told Dawn about the surprise, she said Dawn could not hold back her excitement.
“She was just like, her eyes were big and she said ‘for me! Is this for me?’” Helm said. “She was so excited. She said ‘well, how many days? And she started putting her hand up. ‘Are you talking about five days? How many days? When are you going to have it ready for me?’”
The team put finishing touches into the home before finishing to make it feel more like home. They added a coffee maker, a ‘home’ decor sign, and a ‘welcome’ mat to make it extra cozy for Dawn.
Helm said Roanoke can’t keep pushing people experiencing homelessness away, and that instead, they can invest in new solutions.
“When you care for others and people see that you care,” Helm said. “I believe that you have no choice but to get a good response back.”
Brando and Helm plan to arrange a time to officially welcome Dawn to her new home.
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