Pearland residents come together to help disabled woman

PEARLAND, TX -- Elizabeth Christian is no stranger to high summertime electric bills.

"Because of living in a mobile home, my bills ran in the beginning of the summer time about $200 anywhere up to $400 a month," she says.

But this year, she fell behind a couple of months and few hundred bucks. She went to a local charity for help.

"I told them that if they could extend four or five days so Neighborhood Centers could get the payment to them that they would have the payment," Christian said.

By time the payment got to her power provider, the lights were off, and the permit and inspection process to get them back on was going to cost hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars that she didn't have.

After weeks in the dark, she reached out to our Houston Community Newspapers partner the Pearland Journal. One Facebook post later, her community stepped up to help.

"I went over there and found out what we needed to do, and she needed a city permit to go out there and get her power turned back on," says James Warfield. "So we got the permit squared away and made all the corrections that were needed to make with her panel to get it turned back on."

Warfield is one of the co-owners of Warfield Electric. He says for a regular customer, the job he performed for Christian would have cost $300-$600. But he did it pro-bono, and would do it again.

"This community is just a great community and i felt like giving back. We were raised to give back and it just feels really good to do something for somebody who really needs help."

Warfield gave her what she needed to get the lights back on, and fellow Pearland resident CenterPoint Regional Manager Jason Fabre sped the process along. The The lights were back on by noon the same day.

"I'm truly blessed," she says.

And the lights are on with a new provider.