East Granby Community Rallies To Save Joan's House

In 2008, things were going well for East Granby resident Joan Wright-Lee, or 'Joan Holliday' as she is known on the radio.  She had a job and a great home, and she had raised her two children- James and Joanna.  But in 2009, Wright-Lee lost her job of six years, and she has spent the last year struggling to make ends meet.

Wright-Lee moved to East Granby with her two children almost 11 years ago.  She lived and raised her children in her home on Spoonville Road while working as a radio personality for WRNX, a Clear Channel station in Springfield, MA. She has also worked for WHCN and WWUH in addition to other Connecticut stations over the course of her 22-year career.

Wright-Lee was laid off from her job with  Clear Channel in 2009.  Since then she said she's been covering her bills and mortgage using her unemployment benefit, which was never enough to cover everything.

Today, Wright-Lee is eight months behind on her mortgage payments to TD Bank.  To prevent the bank from foreclosing on her property, she must bring her past due balance to within three months past due, an amount of $6,000 she said.

Wright-Lee is now working at her new job as a radio personality for WRSI in Northampton, MA, but says her new salary is not enough to pay the back payments on her mortgage.

"She's gone through every hoop imaginable," said Joan's longtime friend, Kim Walsh.  The two women worked together more than 20 years ago at a radio station in Hartford.  Walsh now lives in Philadelphia but remains close to her good friend.  

"I knew something was wrong before she told me," Walsh said.

Wright-Lee says she has spent the past year searching for a way to avoid foreclosure.  Bank programs, government home affordability programs- you name it, she tried it.

Lost paperwork, long waits, and rigid guidelines prevented Wright-Lee from finding a program that would help her out of a tough situation.

"I feel like the whole thing is set up to fail," Wright-Lee said. "These programs are supposed to help but it seems like there's no way to qualify for them."

Wright-Lee said one program she applied for would not qualify her because she made $100/month too much, for another she made $100/month less than what was required.  She was disqualified from a Fannie Mae program after eight months of waiting because she was collecting unemployment which she was then told is not a recognized form of income she said.

"I was in a panic, I have nowhere to go -- no family in the area," Wright-Lee said.  "I didn't know what I was going to do."

Walsh told Wright-Lee she could not come up with the money personally, but she would find a way to pull it together.

"This is not going to happen- the universe is not going to let this happen," Walsh told her.

After learning her friend would lose her home to foreclosure at the end of the April, Walsh quickly rallied her resources.  She enlisted Monica Anke Hahn to create a website for her new mission, aptly named SaveJoansHouse.com.  Walsh also contacted the Web hosting service Network Solutions who gave her a discount on the Web domain she purchased for the website.

"I really hesitated at first," Wright-Lee said.  "It's embarrassing really, there's a certain shame attached to this sort of situation."

Wright-Lee said her only other option was homelessness, and so she decided to allow her friend to help.

So far Walsh has been able to raise $5,960 since she first posted the website on Friday, April 8.  Walsh drew attention to the site using Facebook.  Approximately 70 people have donated to the cause as of Monday afternoon.

"This is just going to save her house," Walsh said.  "Joan still has other hurdles to cross."

Walsh said she will most likely take the website down once they have raised the $6,000 Joan needs, although she would like to do so much more.  Wright-Lee will still be behind on her mortgage by about three months, but in the meantime she will be able to stay in her home.

"I honestly have to pinch myself, I just can't believe it," Wright-Lee said. "Friends, family, people I haven't seen in 20 years, people I have never met in my entire life."

"I feel like I am in the movie 'It's a Wonderful Life," Wright-Lee said referring to the quote "No one is poor who has friends."

For more information about the efforts to Save Joan's House, visit the website.