Full house: New Orleans native has 61 houseguests

06:45 PM CDT on Thursday, September 15, 2005

By Wendell Edwards / 11 News

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It looks like any house on any street in suburban Houston. People are cooking in the back yard, getting ready for dinner.

KHOU

The energy level kicks up a notch when the little ones get home from school.

But a closer look reveals that this is not just a picnic.

The home of Sybil Williams, a New Orleans native, has literally been turned into a shelter.

"Currently we have 61 and we were up to 72," says Williams.

The backyard is now a tent city where the young adults sleep.

Most of the people are here are her family, at least that's how it started. But after New Orleans flooded, Williams says people just kept coming and she didn't say no.

"Family is just important and that's from my heart. It's very, very important. Anyone that comes into our family and isn't a blood relative, they're a relative," she says.

Inside the three-bedroom home every inch is accounted for. Folks sleep where they can, when they can.

There's a menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a schedule for bathroom time.

Matriarch Annie Lee Williams says her daughter has helped in way that could never be repaid.

"She just leaped into it and helped. I really don't know exactly what to say. I am so proud of her," says her mother.

So how long can more than 60 people live together under one roof? Sybil says her family, extended family and friends are welcome to stay as long as it takes.

That seems like the answer you would expect to hear, coming from a woman who, when called upon for help, opened her house and her heart.