GREENE COUNTY – All that the residents at the Greene County Nursing Home could hear was static. All they could see was blurred faces and unclear pictures, but it wasn’t their fault.

Unfortunately for them, the television set in the community room of the nursing home was broken and outdated. That is until they received a brand new 35-inch RCA television, courtesy of the good folks at Alabama Power.

Although it had been about a week since the new television arrived at the nursing home, residents officially thanked Alabama Power manager Danny Cooper Tuesday afternoon.

Cooper said Zelda Harris, the director of activities at the home, came to him around the first of November and told him about the problems they were having with the old television.

“She told me the old TV was small and the residents couldn’t see it, so as an early Christmas present to them, I found the funds through the company to buy this television,” he said. “We always like to support the hospitals and nursing homes in Greene County.”

According to the nursing home’s administrator Robert Coker, Zelda was sent to Alabama Power to pay the bills and she came back saying we were getting a new television.

“She is the one responsible for this,” Coker said.

“We needed something larger for the visually impaired residents,” she said.

Since Harris received the television from Alabama Power, she said she has also collected funds from Wal-Mart to purchase a new stand for the television and donations from Eutaw Drug to buy more Christmas decorations to accompany the singing and dancing Santa bear in the front lobby and the singing and dancing Grinch in the community room.

“I’m good for soliciting. We are nonprofit because we are owned by the county,” she said. “We just want to make the facility look more like home and the residents love it.”

“This one’s nicer than before,” Coker said to one of the residents. “Now you can see all the men in those soap operas.”