LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- As a code enforcement officer for Metro Louisville, Michele Benzing spends her days going around the Portland neighborhood, checking on properties to make sure they're secure.
But one day back in December, she had a new service call to a home. When she showed up, she noticed it was missing an electric meter
So she knocked on the door, and 74-year-old Sandra Tulley opened up.
"Everything fell apart," Tulley said Thursday. "Bills were behind, astronomical heating and electric bills because the house is so drafty, and it was progressively getting worse and worse and worse."
Tulley was living without gas and electric, a life she'd endured for more than a year.
"She's just this powerhouse, strong woman and just made it happen," Benzing said. "This is what life dealt her right then, and so she just worked to survive."
Michele Benzing. Feb. 29, 2024. (WDRB Photo)
Tulley had some propane and would grill outside. When it got cold, she doubled up on clothes and blankets.
"It wasn't easy," she said. "I cried a lot, prayed a lot. I just had to stay. I had to stay. It was my house."
The day that Benzing showed up at her door, those prayers were answered.
"It was nothing short of a miracle," Tulley said.
With the help of other city services and some church members, her bill was paid and her lights were back on in days, right before Christmas.
"It's like living life all over again," she said Thursday. "You didn't realize what you didn't have until you had it back again."
Today, she's grateful for the stranger who cared, planting a seed of hope to change someone's life.
"I just never met anybody so deserving, so humble, so resilient and not asking for anything, not asking for anything at all," Benzing said. "She was OK living that way, but I wasn't."
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