Meet Tammye

On a beautiful Saturday morning, I found myself chatting with Tammye in her backyard while the Home Repairs for Good Gutter Crew worked on her home. We hadn’t planned to meet, but as the conversation unfolded, I was struck by her story and her perspective on life.

Tammye studied journalism at IUPUI, and became a field reporter because she valued truth and wanted to uncover what was really going on around her. Her career took a surprising turn when she moved to Los Angeles, where she became a successful actress, even appearing in music videos like “Afro Puffs” by The Lady of Rage and “California Love” by Tupac.

Eventually she returned to Indianapolis, and when she needed help with repairs—that’s when her connection with Home Repairs for Good began. In 2022, we repaired her porch to stop water from entering through a wall and since then, we’ve returned to help with projects like fixing broken steps, replacing a kitchen faucet, and now repairing gutters along the lower level of her home.

Tammye’s house itself carries history—it was once the first location of Martin University (then called Martin Center College). The campus offered Sickle Cell research, GED classes, substance abuse programs, and other community health initiatives. Growing up in Indianapolis and later living in this home has given Tammye a unique appreciation for how deeply a place can shape the lives of those who pass through it.

“My family is an old family; we come out of slavery. And when I was born, a lot of the people I knew—like my great-great-grandmother—had been a slave,” she shared.

When I asked her what community means to her, she reflected on how different things are today compared to her upbringing. “A lot of younger people don’t have older people around anymore,” she explained. “Our educational system is lost on teaching people that you have to have compassion. They don’t have compassion. Youth is lost on the young. They don’t volunteer to help people, like their neighbor.”

She explained that parents used to send their kids to help older neighbors—and that’s how you learned to “see” what was happening in your community. Without those experiences, she worries, younger generations lose the opportunity to practice compassion. With a laugh, she shared a memory from her childhood: an older relative would ask her to help thread a needle. “Now I understand why,” she said. “Because you can’t see that hole anymore!”

Now at 66 years old, and having lived in her home for 20 years, Tammye finds joy in security and simplicity:

“Being secure in my home, my person, being able to have food security, and being out here in nature, watching my flowers.”

Her flowers are part of her story too. What started with just nine plants given to her by her mother has blossomed into a vibrant backyard. Tammye saves fallen seeds, plants them in pots, and nurtures them over time. Standing among them, I couldn’t help but notice how her garden mirrors her outlook on life—rooted in history and full of resilience, resulting in something beautiful. 

Want to read more stories? Visit our blog at www.homerepairsforgood.org/blog-1