Two people our team has met in northeast Houston are Sonia and Elisabeth. Both women got caught in the flooding and both of their homes were devastated. And, thankfully, both women have been able to move out of the dangerous conditions in their own homes to live with family in other parts of Houston.
Sonia is a single mom, and she and her son moved in with her adult daughter. Elisabeth also moved in with her grown daughter. It’s been weeks since Hurricane Harvey, and both women told us they just want to get back to life as normal. “I’m excited to get back into my own house,” Sonia told us. They want to start fresh with new mattresses and appliances. And on Day 276, that’s exactly what we wanted to help them with.
But, there was a problem. The process of mucking and gutting these women’s homes, and then sanitizing them so that mold won’t return, will take at least 3 weeks. And we can’t bring anything new into the homes until the environment is safe and we can be sure those items won’t be contaminated, too (Elisabeth’s home, in particular, is growing the very worst mold we saw in all our time in Houston).
So, we decided to give Sonia and Elisabeth each a gift card to Wal-Mart. That way, when the time is right and they’ve returned to their homes, they’ll be able to purchase the items they need to start their lives over. Or, if they have immediate needs, they can take care of those right away, too.
“I really appreciate this,” said Sonia. “I’d like to use it for appliances first.” Sonia said she’s buy some furniture if there was any money left over. Elisabeth planned to buy food, personal hygiene items and underwear. She was overwhelmed – “she’s not used to anyone noticing her,” her daughter Veronica explained. “Not a lot of people take the time to do this. We are really grateful.”
