West Shawmut man needs money for house repairs

Published 10:00 am Tuesday, June 7, 2022

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A man who lives in West Shawmut needs help affording some house repairs. Zil Maxi, 87, has several leaks in his roof that have damaged his floors. Sandra Thornton, director of the Lanett Senior Center, which Maxi attends daily, said that although Maxi has worked on his house in the past, his current health and age won’t allow him to. The bathroom is the worst part of his house and needs to be redone.

Thornton said Lanett Mayor Jamie Heard asked the Chattahoochee Fuller Center Project to get involved in raising money for Maxi’s house repairs. The Cash App screen name to donate money for the repairs is ​​$Fullercenterlanett. There is no limit to how much money the Fuller Center Project is trying to raise.

“Anything that we raise, we can do more work to the house,” Thornton said.

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Although there’s no deadline to raise the money by, Thornton said that because rainy weather is approaching, it’s important to get it sooner than later.

Thornton described Maxi as an “awesome, pleasant young man.”

“His saying is, ‘God bless you,’” she said. “He’s always blessing others.”

Maxi is from Haiti and has lived in the United States for 33 years.

“He’s so proud to be in the United States that in every room of his house, he has an American flag,” Thornton said. “He has a huge map of the States because he is so honored and proud to be here. He loves it.”

Thornton has known Maxi since he moved to the area. Her dad had her and her sisters fill out paperwork for Maxi to help his children get into the country.

Maxi loves to play dominoes and plays Play 9 every day.

“And recently, in our Masters Games that we had here, he won several medals,” Thornton said. “He’s so proud of his medals sometimes… even if we don’t have the event here, he’ll wear his medals to the center.”

Maxi also loves to dance.

“Some of the other seniors said that when they went to Talladega to the Masters Games, they had a dance contest, and of course, he won first place,” Thornton said. “And they said that he danced all day long.”

Thornton said a group of local pastors will meet on June 9 at Mount Herman Church in Shawmut to discuss how they can raise funds for Maxi.