TIFTON — Christmas is well-known as the season of giving, and Marvin Peavy certainly gave his new neighbor all he could and more to help him have a happy holidays.

When the former Valdosta resident purchased a farm only three miles from his new home in Tifton, which he moved to around two years ago, he quickly became familiar with the property’s neighbor Red Pettiford, who had been living in a rather dilapidated home.

Peavy recounted that Pettiford was living in practical poverty, his family members having long since moved away. The house was in shambles, the property overgrown, and no running water was to be found anywhere; Pettiford instead made use of a hose running off of Peavy’s farm.

Peavy set to work rectifying his new neighbors’ situation, negotiating the purchase of the 1.3 acres of land Pettiford lived on and leveling their old house to rebuild it from the ground up.

With an extensive background in real estate and property management, Peavy was determined to give Red Pettiford a home he could live in.

“When I bought the land, I had told him I would build him a place to live,” Peavy said.

After six months of construction and around $110,000 put into the project, Pettiford had a two-bedroom, one-bathroom, fully furnished house to call his own, which he officially moved into six weeks ago.

Peavy made sure to spruce up the property as well, purchasing a truckload of sod to lay down a yard, building a pen for Pettiford’s pet dogs, and setting up a storage shed in the backyard for any items or effects from the old house.

Beyond that, he’s gone out of his way to assist Pettiford in providing for himself, including buying him groceries and six months of car insurance, managing his food stamps, and even setting up a Christmas tree to help him celebrate the holidays — something he doubted he’d been able to do in a long time.

Peavy asserted he was happy to just help his fellow man through a difficult time, his only request for the exchange be that Pettiford maintain and take care of his new home.

“No one should have to suffer in poverty like that right now,” Peavy said. “No one – not in the United States, as we have it now.”