Shenita Williams found herself in a state of depression after her 8-year-old niece was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting at Williams' home in a troubled neighborhood in south St. Petersburg 16 months ago.
She felt so guilty she wasn't comfortable moving back into the bullet-riddled home on Preston Avenue.
"I was upset," Williams, 43, said today . "Most parents fault themselves."
But then she reached out to a grief counselor, and talked to a neighborhood pastor too. Soon, she was brought into a community group formed to put a halt to the kind of violence that took the life of her niece, Paris Whitehead Hamilton, on April 5, 2009.
One counselor asked her if, perhaps, moving back into the home might help Williams move forward, Williams said. She agreed, setting in a motion a collaborative effort that culminated this morning with Williams being given the keys to her house.
And it wasn't the same house.
Governmental and non-profit entities - such as Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay, the Dream Center, and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry - got together and arranged to have the home rehabilitated.
None of the 50 or so bullets that rained down on the home had to be removed - forensic technicians had already taken them away. But workmen had to plaster over the holes. The home also got, among other things, a new roof, new cabinets and a new coat of paint.
The color selected was purple. It's Williams' favorite color, and it was Paris's too.
"This is a homecoming," Williams said. "I've seen it from the worst.
"I was from anger," she said. "My spirit has changed."
The street has since been renamed Paris Avenue.
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