Funds for our 3 flood relocations

On October 30 Peggy Ellithorpe and Laura Walberg lost almost everything. Their homes were flooded with almost no warning and they were forced to flee leaving behind most of their belongings. These amazing women both work for local art nonprofits helping other artists make their dreams come true. They are now being forced to start over with what little they could salvage from the wreckage of their previous homes that were deemed unlivable.

Peggy Ellithorpe and her teenage nephew Jet Quealy work for Austin Creative Alliance and shared a home with Peggy's brother, a close friend, Peggy's cat and two dogs. Laura Walberg (and her little dog, Jack) work for Austin Shakespeare and shared a home with their kitty, Mischa, and a close friend. All of them were renters and their renters insurance will not cover flood damage. It is up to the homeowners as to whether they will share any insurance settlement (if there is one) with their tenants. Peggy & Jet believe that their landlords have washed their hands of any kind of insurance settlement, and don’t expect any payments other than the return of the rental deposit.

Laura and Jack are staying with a friend until they can get a place of their own in this crazy housing market. Peggy and her crew are just now starting to settle into another rental house, and are still coming across items that are mold-infused and must be thrown out. Peggy and Laura lost most of their furniture, clothing, shoes, electronics, toiletries, appliances large and small, cookware, all food items (herbs, spices, oils, seasonings, flour, etc.) books, media, music, etc. They also lost countless items that can never be replaced such as photos of family and friends, art, and other memorabilia. Laura even lost her car!

This GoFundMe is to help Peggy and Laura with the costs associated with replacing some of the items that were lost in the flood as well as recoup some of the expenses of their forced relocation. Storage rental for items that were salvaged while couch surfing during the hunt for a new home, first and last month rent, application fees, pet deposits, etc. And the numerous other hidden costs for victims of a natural disaster.

I manage the building where Laura, Jack, Peggy and Jet work and have witnessed first hand the toll this has taken on them. Now that the flood water has receded and Laura and Peggy have found places to stay, I am asking you to help them get a fresh start and make their new places feel like a homes so they can put this tragedy behind them. Every little bit helps. Even three dollars will buy them a new stick of deodorant or tube of toothpaste. Yes, even that was lost in the flood (but thankfully has already been replaced but you get the idea).

I am not offering incentive items for donations because I want all of the money donated to go directly to Laura and Peggy to be used to replace the items lost in the flood. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10152107787610757&id=534890756" target="_blank">Laura's video of flood damage  Another of Laura's videos 


Here are some photos of the destruction from Peggy and Jet's home.
Piles of belonging that were destroyed waiting to be hauled away.

Antique furniture that was destroyed. 

What was left of the living room and boxed up dishes from the top shelves waiting to be hauled off to storage.
This is Peggy trying to take it all in while cleaning out her home.

An attempt to save the couch from the flood water almost worked. You can see the water still got the bottom of the couch.
Peggy's bedroom furniture that floated around her bed.
The flood water knocked everything around.
The garage was distroyed, everything was knocked over and off of shelves and floating around in the water.


Fences were knocked flat and anyting not tied down floated away.
The clean up begins.
The house was deemed unsafe. Peggy didn't have long to get everything out before she was not alowd back inside.