TUPELO, Miss., May 11, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barbara Randle, a retired school speech therapist, received a $5,000 Special Needs Assistance Program (SNAP) grant from BancorpSouth and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) to replace the leaky roof on her home.
Ms. Randle, 63, is a widow living in Tupelo, Mississippi. She dedicated 25 years of her life to the well-being of school children across the state. She is retired, but has gone back to work part-time due to the high demand for speech therapists in local schools.
Over the years, the 20-year-old roof on Ms. Randle's home had suffered from wind damage and deterioration. Despite patch work by a contractor friend, Ms. Randle said her roof had begun to leak and her insurance policy would not cover the cost to replace it. She simply could not afford the costs on her own, so Ms. Randle looked into other options. She had heard that a neighbor's mother-in-law received a new roof using a SNAP grant, and Ms. Randle followed through and contacted BancorpSouth for more information.
SNAP, a rehabilitation program available through FHLB Dallas member institutions, such as BancorpSouth, provides grant funds to assist income-qualified, special needs homeowners with necessary home repairs and modifications. In 2010, FHLB Dallas set aside $1.5 million in SNAP funds to provide qualified recipients up to $5,000. If a member financial institution contributes at least $350 toward costs associated with the rehabilitation, the homeowner is eligible to receive up to $7,000 in grant funds.
Ms. Randle said the crew that worked on her home was phenomenal, and the new roof is designed to last 30 years.
"I am so happy with my new roof," Ms. Randle said. "I love it. I have nothing but good things to say about the entire process."
Christy Minton, fair lending officer at BancorpSouth, said SNAP funds have been scooped up quickly due to the high demand for housing repairs of low-income residents in the area.
"Not all of our SNAP recipients have been customers of the bank," Ms. Minton said. "We've gotten to know them and have been able to help them get money through SNAP to fix their homes and have a better living environment. It doesn't matter that they are not BancorpSouth customers. To us, it is about doing the right thing. Some have lived without heat, without air-conditioning, and without a roof."
BancorpSouth partnered with Neighborhood Development Corp., a nonprofit organization, to disburse the SNAP funds. Neighborhood Development Corp.'s mission is to provide safe and affordable housing to Tupelo residents. Peggy Woods, a city employee with the Department of Development Services, works with Neighborhood Development Corp. to help qualified residents receive SNAP funding.
"Those receiving SNAP grants are low-income residents that have no other resources for making critical home repairs," said Ms. Woods. "Without the use of SNAP funds, some would face potential code violation citations from the city, and would have no other place to go for this type of financial assistance."
This year, BancorpSouth has requested $93,635 in SNAP grants and has received $76,280 to date. In 2009, the first year of the program, BancorpSouth facilitated 20 grants totaling $97,162.
For more information about FHLB Dallas programs, please contact the Corporate Communications Department at 214.441.8445.
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 12 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $58.7 billion as of March 31, 2010, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced advances and other credit products to more than 900 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas. For more information, visit the FHLB Dallas web site at fhlb.com.
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3013
About BancorpSouth
BancorpSouth Inc., with approximately $13.2 billion in assets, is based in Tupelo, Mississippi, and has been serving customers for more than 130 years. BancorpSouth Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BancorpSouth, Inc., operates approximately 314 commercial banking, mortgage, insurance, trust, and broker/dealer locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. BancorpSouth Bank also operates an insurance location in Illinois. In addition to providing traditional banking services, credit cards, mortgages, trust and fiduciary services, the company provides investment services through its subsidiary BancorpSouth Investment Services Inc. Its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BXS.