Disabled, orphaned student in South Carolina gets a home thanks to his classmates

From WYFF-TV:

GREENVILLE S.C. -- Waylon Pitcher had every reason to feel alone.

"Both mom and dad both have passed away. And when his dad passed away, he didn't even miss a day of school," said Tammy Pace, a guidance counselor at J.L. Mann High School.

Pitcher is a 20-year-old senior at J.L. Mann. He is bound to a wheelchair due to spina bifida, and for the last several months, he has lived alone in a motel.

Despite the challenges, he has a motivation to finish school, that few students can share -- the memory of his dad.

"He promised his dad that he would graduate. and he has held true to that," Pace said.

Tammy Pace along with Coach Max Clymer have mentored Waylon ever since he became a part of a program for students with special needs at J.L. Mann.

Earlier this year, Pace found section 8 housing for Waylon. A green, one-story mill house on Jones Rd. in Greenville.

"He thought it was the Taj Mahal," Clymer said.

But the house was a long way from what it would become by the time Waylon moved into it several weeks later.

A week before Waylon moved in, about a hundred J.L. Mann students descended on Waylon's future home with rakes, paintbrushes and more.

A request from Pace and Clymer for students to help clean the house exploded into a full-on renovation effort.

The bathroom and kitchen were both modified to be more wheelchair accessible, the home's floors were refinished, and almost every surface in the house got a fresh coat of paint.

"It's all been the Mann family and the Mann community," Pace said. "And it's all just been by word of mouth and e-mails that have been sent out."

When Waylon moved in on Feb. 28, he was greeted by more than a hundred classmates lining the street.

Inside, he found the home fully furnished by gifts from the J.L. Mann community, right down to a new Xbox and television in his living room.

"I swear I'm going to have a heart attack," he said.

His teachers at J.L. Mann were almost as surprised by all community had done to help.

"It has been overwhelming. Just in the past couple weeks, it's been great," Clymer said.

After living by himself in a motel for months, Waylon now has the gift of knowing he is not alone.

"I had no idea that I'd be seeing people along both sides of the street, just cheering that I got this house." Waylon said. "It was completely surprising to me, but I loved it. Every second of it."