Fauntroy Family Story: Struggling to Stay Together and Pay Utility Bills

They grew up next door to each other in the shadow of the nation's Capitol in two row houses at 56 and 58 Channing St NW. Neighbors Rozelle Robinson and Gregory Fauntroy fell in love, moved into one of the row houses on Channing Street, and raised four children there together. Now all that's left of the parents are well-worn family photos from years past—lovingly kept and assembled on a dining room table by their offspring.

Their children, Jernise, Gregory and Tia Fauntroy and their older sister Ebonie Taylor, grew up at 58 Channing Street in Northwest Washington, D.C. Three generations of their family have lived in the turn-of-the-century row home, and their extended family fills three more houses on the same block.

Their father passed away 12 years ago, and after their mother passed away suddenly in 2004, Tia, Gregory, and Jernise, now 18, 20, and 22 years old, moved next door to what once was their grandmother’s house before she, too, died. That home, also in the family for three generations, is now owned by their aunt, Pastor Frances Robinson and her siblings.

Even as they struggle to get their young lives in order, the Fauntroy children juggle the utilities for the aunt’s house, where they currently live, while scraping together money to also cover utilities, taxes, and building supplies to restore their childhood home.

Since money is tight and Gregory has some experience in home renovation, they are doing all the work on their own at the home where they grew up. They hope to have the majority of the work done this winter in time for the arrival of Gregory’s baby daughter—so that she can be the fourth generation to live at 58 Channing Street.

But while they take on the enormous task of restoring the home where they grew up, they still face the daily challenge of paying the bills at 56 Channing Street.

So that they won't be hit with sky-high heating bills this winter for two homes, the Alliance to Save Energy, American Gas Association, The Dow Chemical Company, and 27 other Power Is in Your Hands campaign partners and product donors are giving their current home—56 Channing Street —an energy-efficiency makeover and also helping them to take the first energy- and money-saving steps to prevent energy waste in their family home—58 Channing Street—as they repair it.