Judith Bailey

My name is Judith Bailey. I am the Property Manager for 3 rental housing properties in McDowell County. I am currently and have been employed with S.H.E.D. since January 2001. I am the mother of two and grandmother and great-grandmother of several. It has always been my priority in life to take care of others and put them before myself so being a Property Manager is a very fitting position.

As a working Mom and Grandmother of 25 years, the second part of my live began with applying for a position with S.A.F.E. in 1999. S.A.F.E. (Stop Abusive Family Environments) is a non-profit domestic violence program and shelter in Welch, WV. The position I applied for was a VISTA position under the AmeriCorps Program. This program is for non-profits, faith-based organizations and municipal governments. It provides positions for 1-year terms under a host such as S.A.F.E. Under this program the volunteers serve the community with the goal of ending generational poverty.

As it turned out, I did get the position and was very excited about it. It was a very fulfilling position. We traveled to receive education, we served and we provided for those in need. When S.A.F.E. decided to start up rental housing for the low income population in the county, they needed a special staff and building in order to maintain the rental program, therefore S.H.E.D. was established.  

I was always interested in land, houses and such so I was asked to join the staff in 2001 and there it began. My first big undertaking was to work with FEMA and the Town of War as they were getting their own sewage plant. We worked for several months taking applications from War residents at town hall and even going house to house to those who could not come in. All of this was going on as the transition for S.H.E.D. from the S.A.F.E. building to our new office in Kimball WV was going on. Once in the S.H.E.D. office at Kimball, S.A.F.E. had purchased an existing apartment complex in Eckman, WV and this is where I received my first Property Manager position.

Soon after in 2002, S.A.F.E. began the construction of the Starland Heights Apartments complex in Kimball, WV, and I was assigned the position of Property Manager. Over the next few years, 2 more complexes were added to the list and I became Property Manager over 4 complexes. Two family complexes, 1 disabled or elderly and the last one is elderly only. I have since given up 1 of the properties and now only have 3.

It has been a challenge, every day presents a little challenge but I love what I have been given the opportunity to do. It makes me feel so happy inside when I can help someone move into a safe, sanitary and affordable home.