Supporting each other

Gunshots behind a row of homes shocked the block last summer.

“My husband was washing dishes at the time,” said Cheryl Larry. “It sounded like it was right outside. Fortunately, with police intervention, we resolved it.”

Someone called 911, and a woman who lived with tenants who were believed to be the problem sought shelter with a neighbor. The tenants subsequently moved out, Ms. Larry said.

“We showed that together we are great and that what affects one neighbor affects us all,” she said. “Sometimes it takes an incident to show us how much we need to support each other.”

At a group dinner last winter, Ms. Lockett reported that an absent neighbor had illness in the family and a recent death. Everyone groaned as one. “We need to reach out to her to see if there’s anything we can do,” she said.

Roosevelt Pitts, who had had no connections on the block except for Ms. Wortham, said if not for FOCUS “I wouldn’t know Cheryl or Miss Rhonda. Knowing who’s around you, that we’re connected in some way, is good. That doesn’t happen much anymore.”

Jacqueline Williams said she was doubtful about the agenda at first. “I remember thinking, ‘I don’t want to be bothered,’ ” she said. “But when Rebuilding Together began working on people’s houses, I thought, ‘This is serious.’ ”

She had lived in her house for seven years when, in 2013, she lost her job as a drug and alcohol counselor. She stored her belongings and took a road trip visiting friends and family. When she returned, she was able to re-rent the house and got a job as a family counselor.

“Two weeks after I moved back, someone used a magnet to pop the trunk of my car and stole a briefcase,” she said. “I was frantic.” She said a week later, she got a call from a nun at the convent. “Whoever had taken it dumped it behind the convent.

“I hadn’t even known there was a convent on Webster. They had dried all my papers, my Bible. We sat and talked for hours.”

Pam Walker’s house belonged to her aunt and uncle when she was a child.

When her own two children were young, she took classes at the Community College of Allegheny County where she cleaned offices at night while her family babysat. She studied to be a legal assistant on her mother’s advice, she said, “but I really wanted to be a teacher.”

When she eventually got her education degree in 1999, she began teaching in Pittsburgh Public Schools.

“I’ve been there ever since,” she said. “I love what I do but I plan to retire in 2018. I want to quit on a high note, to pursue my hobbies: cooking, making wine, gardening. I want to take music lessons.”

Tamaira Binion and Jann Kelly Council were married several years ago and are among the younger residents on the block. She works in public relations at Robert Morris University and he owns a convenience store on the North Side.

“Jann was born and raised in the Hill and his parents, grandmother and sister all live nearby,” she said. “In the summer, when I get home from work, Miss Pam is out gardening and Miss Rhonda will be on her porch. Miss Rhonda will see the car and come over to ask ‘Are you coming to the meeting?’ ” she said. “Or if your car hasn’t moved for a few days, she calls: ‘Are you OK?’ ”

Before having to leave her house last October, Ms. Wortham spent several lovely afternoons on her small porch. On one such day, she watched cars lining up at the Herron Avenue stoplight.

“My granddad worked on cars at Herron and Centre,” she said. “That’s how I learned to change a tire. My father redid this house. He worked for the post office.”

For 26 years, she worked with at-risk teenagers for Family Links.

“I used to cry at the stories they would tell. I’d tell them, ‘I’m so sorry you’ve had to live like this.’ It feels good to be able to feel other people’s pain. That’s why your shoulder is so close to your ear.

“I loved it, but the kids were starting to get dangerous,” she said. “Now when I see these young guys pass by the house, I always speak to them. I want them to know I’m here.”