Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity has the opportunity to assist low to moderate income residents with roof repairs after the non-profit was awarded a grant Tuesday from the Allie Cat Run and Festival.

Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Monica Bradley said she and the Habitat for Humanity board of directors were grateful to be able to continue helping others in the community.

“This is the season of Thanksgiving, and we are very, very thankful to the Allie Cat Run and Festival organizers and organization for having the same mission that we have, and that is to help those in Lauderdale County,” she said.

Bradley said there are quite a few residents in Lauderdale County who are making tough choices between medications and food or fixing roof repairs. The $5,000 grant, she said, will go a long way toward helping residents get the repairs they need.

“We wrote the grant for helping with roofs,” she said. “We have a lot of clients and a lot of calls for roofs due to roof damage or roofs need to be replaced. So, that money will go to that.”

The Allie Cat Run and Festival was founded by the Carruth family to honor the memory of their daughter, Allie, who died in an accident 2017 at the age of six.

Leslie Carruth said the family received a huge outpouring of support from the community after their daughter’s death and founded the organization to ensure that support is available to others.

“When we started the Allie Cat Run and Festival, we wanted to do something back for our community,” she said. “Raising funds that we can give back to our community, to nonprofit organizations, that we can make our community better just a little bit at a time.”

Carruth said helping the community is something where everyone can get involved, and it doesn’t have to be a big effort.

Picking up trash in downtown, helping a student with a homework assignment or volunteering with a nonprofit are all things anyone can do to help others and make their community a better place.