Nonprofit renovates home for Tripp Halstead

JACKSON COUNTY, Ga. — Help is pouring in for the family of a child recovering from a critical brain injury.

A local nonprofit plans to renovate a home that Tripp Halstead's parents are buying. They plan to make the home handicap accessible for the toddler after a tree limb struck him on the head during Superstorm Sandy.

Volunteers said the Jefferson, Ga. home is much closer to the 3-year-old's grandparents. And it has first-floor bedrooms, which the child will need to get around when he is released from the hospital.

But since it is foreclosure the home is a bit of a mess, said Holly Ranney, who runs Sunshine on a Ranney Day, a charity that helps rehabilitate homes for sick children.

Ranney is working with dozens of volunteers to renovate the entire house and make it handicap accessible.

Channel 2 Action News has been following the toddler's progress since the accident outside his Winder daycare last fall. He suffered serious brain injuries.

"Every day it's a roller coaster what they are going through. So it just makes us so excited that we knew we had the resources and a lot of people call us and say they had to help. It's just been a wonderful experience," Ranney said.

Ranney said the boy's parents didn't ask for any help and will be completely surprised with how this home turns out in about three to four months.

Danny Phillips of Ideal Interiors is the contractor who donated his time to head up the project

"I am going to try not to tear up because I have a 10-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter. At least we live in a community where we can come together and lift someone up. You know they always say it's always darkest before the dawn, and we want to be the light they see at the end of the tunnel," Phillips said.

Halstead had brain surgeries over the weekend, but his aunt reports he had a good night's sleep and is doing well.

WSBTV