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LIGHT ONE CANDLE Grandma Gracie needs a roof EDITOR'S NOTE : This is one in a series of stories about people who need help during the holiday season. Her West Medford neighbors call her Grandma Gracie. At 73, she lives alone, but when she can, she spends her time helping others. "She is not a sitter," said Pastor Connie Jones of A New Beginning Fellowship. Her door is always open to others, even though she lives on Social Security and a little from her husband's retirement, Jones said. Sometimes she relies on food bags at the Salvation Army. Even so, she has been known to sit for hours at CERVS, carving away the spoiled spots on pieces of fruit. She then cans the fruit and gives it to hungry neighbors. In the past, she has opened her home to foster children and worked in the Foster Grandparent Program. She's had to stop working in that program because she suffers from bowing back, sickle-cell anemia and gout. She still volunteers at the Northwest Seasonal Workers Association, however, answering phones. And she often takes food to neighbors who are ill or disabled, Jones said. She also teaches community classes on black history. This summer Jones and neighbors held a yard sale to help. The proceeds bought the woman a new gas heater and a van. Jones said the first thing the woman did upon receiving the van was visit a blind friend in Phoenix and take him grocery shopping. But the yard sale didn't raise enough money to fix another big problem: the roof on her dilapidated house. The roof has places where it dips, and she has buckets underneath where it leaks inside. Jones talked to three roofers, who all said the roof was in such bad shape that they worried for the woman's safety. It would take at least a week to fix. Readers interested in helping the west Medford woman with a new roof can call Jones at 774-9848. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA