San Antonio UM returns
to ‘new’ home after makeover

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
After more than a month as a nomad, Sue Sullivan returned home April 11.
The member of St. John’s UMC, San Antonio, received a home makeover from the KENS TV’s Great Day SA program.
Sullivan’s reaction to her “new” home was taped April 11 and aired on KENS April 13.
Her home was almost unrecognizable, she said.
Workers placed new trim around her windows, installed a new entrance door, put stones leading to her front door instead of a sidewalk, painted, replaced a dilapidated porch, made new cabinets, renovated the kitchen with brand new appliances, retiled her kitchen and bathroom, landscaped the front and back yards, and supplied three rooms of furniture.
“It’s like a dream you would never dare dream of,” Sullivan said. “I’m so in shock. I’ve been floating around on a cloud ever since.”
Sullivan’s daughter, Stacy Shelton, submitted Sullivan’s application for the home makeover without Sulli-van’s knowing.
Shelton said she was home one day when she saw the show on KENS. The last day of another home makeover was airing, and Shelton thought of her mother.
Her mother’s three-bedroom, two-bathroom house had fallen into disrepair since her husband had left her, Shelton said. She knew it was stressful for her mother.
“She said she’d stay there until it fell apart, and it was literally falling apart,” Shelton said. “She’s just been getting by since my dad left. She wasn’t able to keep up with the house. We all wanted to help, but there was so much to do that we
couldn’t do it ourselves.”
Shelton said she figured she had nothing to lose by applying, so she downloaded the application and told only select family members about it.
She remembers their teasing her about entering the contest—because no one really believed she had a chance of winning.
Shelton told producers how her mother gave and gave and gave and how she had always done that, even when situations were rough. She told of Sullivan’s faithfulness to her church, where she’s been a member for 28 years, and how she pours herself out as its activities director and substitute secretary.
The church bulletin announcing Sullivan’s win said she “is one of the most generous people you will ever meet.”
“She helps the church wherever she is needed,” the bulletin continued.
Great Day producers called Shelton and said her mother had made it into the semifinals. They would need to send contractors out to her house to make sure it was fixable. Shelton knew she had to tell her mother she had entered the contest.
“Of course, she was, like, ‘What?’” Shelton said, chuckling. “At first, she wasn’t exactly pleased.”
Sullivan still agreed to let contractors look at her home, and, soon after the walk-through, Shelton was notified that her mother had been chosen for the finals. More contractors had to walk through the house.
Soon after, producers notified Shelton that her mother had been chosen as the winner. They wanted some of the family there when they notified Sullivan.
It wasn’t unusual for Shelton or any other family members to stop by her mother’s house, she said. Getting her mother out of the living room with its large windows facing the street was more complicated, Shelton said.
All involved wanted to surprise Sullivan.
Producers told Sullivan she needed to be packed and moved out of the home within 72 hours. The station provided storage for her 28 years’ worth of belongings, and Sullivan stayed with a friend and floated around during the day, mostly living
at St. John’s, she said.
“I’m like a fish out of water,” she joked before moving back into her home. “I’m looking forward to being back in my house. I’m a bigger homebody than I realized. I really have respect for the homeless, not knowing where they’re going to be. We take a lot for granted.”
Sullivan’s reaction to the home unveiling, as well as her reaction to the news that her home was chosen for the makeover, can be seen at www.mysanantonio.com.