CHARLOTTE — Emmanuel Threatt, a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer, and his wife, Adrienne Threatt, a teacher, started a nonprofit organization, Hope Vibes.
They have a colorful truck to operate the charity the Hope Tank, which has bathrooms and a laundry area.
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Hope Vibes sponsors includes the United Way, Foundation for the Carolinas and Bank of America.
The Threatts drive the truck to homeless encampments to provide them with showers and a way to clean their clothes.
“They come out of the shower and then it’s, like, ‘It felt great. It felt like home. Or, ‘It felt like just a retreat, a place to get away and just regroup and refresh,’” Emmanuel Threatt told Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke.
The couple said they don’t have a safe place to keep their truck, so they keep it in front of their house.
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The homeowners’ association in their neighborhood said the Threatts can’t park a commercial vehicle there.
The HOA’s management company sent them a warning about it.
The HOA is well within its rights to have the rule, but that doesn’t make the Threatts feel any better.
“To me, it makes me feel, a little bit like, they’re disconnected with what’s really happening in the community,” Emmanuel Threatt said.
“We want to make sure that the money and the time that we’ve invested into this is protected,” Adrienne Threatt said.
The HOA’s management company told Stoogenke: “Homeowner associations were developed to offer owners protection and reassurance that their community would be preserved and protected. Please understand that while the charity work (the Threatts are) performing is a great thing, it does not change the fact that the commercial vehicle (they are) parking in the street appears to be a violation of (their) community’s covenants and restrictions.”
The Threatts can apply for a variance, which is an exception to the rules.
However, they rent so they need the owner of the house to do that.
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