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No more mortgage for Grandmothers

(Updated: Friday, April 17, 2009, 1:26 PM)

High on a hill in Coarsegold, a group of lucky elders has found, as one of them said, a piece of heaven.

But it was just a bit warmer than usual last week as the group held a mortgage burning ceremony.

It's a tidy, neatly landscaped 20-apartment complex with affordable rents for anyone who is a member of the State of California Grandmothers Club, which is open to anyone 55 or older who is a grandmother -- and who makes it through the waiting list.

The sole purpose of the club is to provide affordable housing for the elders. To do that, the group holds fundraisers. "This is a working club," said Patsy Van Cleeve.

"This is not a social club. We earned every penny" to pay off the nearly $1 million mortgage.

The local club is famous for its gravy and biscuit breakfasts. It made $700 on the last one. The money goes into the colony fund to support the apartments in Coarsegold and a 64-unit mobile home colony in Arroyo Grande, which celebrated the mortgage burning at the same time.