Randy and Paula White finally fork over promised home

[Malvaro]

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/aug...ers-on-promis/

Without Walls Church Finally Delivers On Promise Of Home
By BAIRD HELGESON and MICHELLE BEARDEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 16, 2007

TAMPA - After five years of waiting, LaShonda Dupree is finally living in a home she believes she won in a contest sponsored by Without Walls International Church.

Dupree said Wednesday that she closed on the Riverview home last week and moved in over the weekend with her four children. 'Even though it didn't first happen the way I thought, I am thankful that it finally worked out,' said Dupree, 25.

The four-bedroom, two-bathroom home was built in 2004 on a small lake in the Panther Trace subdivision. Dupree loves the two-car garage, the screened lanai and the nearby clubhouse and pool.

The church paid about $200,000 for the home, said Dupree, who will pay insurance and taxes on the property. This year's tax bill came to $2,394, according to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's Office.

'We were happy that we could do this for LaShonda and that she is pleased with her new home,' the church said in a statement through its public relations company.

The church declined further comment, including whether it is holding a mortgage on the house or purchased it outright.

In November 2002, Dupree won the top prize in an essay-writing contest that asked participants how they would use what they learned in a church-sponsored class on financial responsibility.

In announcing the winner, Pastors Randy and Paula White congratulated Dupree on her new home, a $100,000 furnished house near Temple Terrace. The event and tour of the home with Dupree and her children was taped and repeatedly broadcast on a Christian television network. During the tour, Paula White asked Dupree's daughters, 'Whose room is this?' 'Who's going to get the bunk bed?'

But Dupree never got the house. The contest fliers specified that the winner would receive a down payment for the home. Dupree said she assumed the church decided to give her the home because church leaders had asked her to apply for a mortgage and she was declined.

Dupree kept quiet about the situation until late May, when The Tampa Tribune wrote about financial troubles and lawsuits at the $40 million-a-year megachurch. The stories caught fire on the Tribune's editorial pages and on online forums about Without Walls. Critics lambasted the Whites' lavish lifestyle while Dupree and her children remained in a rental home in Brandon.

At the time, Randy White issued a statement though a public relations company that said the giveaway did not turn out as he had hoped. 'We tried to do a good thing, and it backfired,' the statement said.

White contacted Dupree almost immediately after the story ran and wanted to fix the situation, she said.

He got Dupree in touch with a real estate agent, and they began to search the Brandon area for a home. When Dupree found the salmon-colored home in Riverview, she knew it would be perfect. The church paid for the inspections, a warranty and an attorney she chose, Dupree said. 'It was pretty cool,' she said.

Dupree has no hard feelings toward the Whites or Without Walls. 'I am satisfied with the outcome. They were really very cooperative,' she said.