North City Needs Our Help: Tornado Recovery Aid

My name is Nicole and I own a small business in St. Louis, MO. On May 25th, while volunteering in North City, we ran into the lovely Cynthia. She had been looking and asking for help since the May 16th tornado hit her home. We came back on the 26th and helped clear some debris and boarded up some windows, but during this process, we learned a lot about her. Her home was given to her by her father 51 years ago. After being a victim of crime, she has been living without ANY plumbing in her home for way too long. In the process of all her plumbing being stolen, they also damaged her plaster walls, staircase, and moldings. She has lived without. While she was walking home the day of the tornado, she hunkered down between two stone walls and held on for dear life. When she made it home, she found every tree down or severely damaged, her fence gone, her roof significantly damaged, her shed and its contents gone, her car damaged, 7 windows blown out, and her chimneys collapsed. It has not been safe in her home to turn her power back on. After weeks of rain, mold has set in and she can no longer continue staying there. In the weeks since then, my husband and I (and so many volunteers) have completely cleaned her debris, removed all the trees, got her car working, and the Happy Roof Company in St. Louis gave her a brand new roof. We are assisting her with SNAP and FEMA applications, but Cynthia has needed help for a long time and we need assistance to continue helping her. 100% of our time is fully donated.

What we would like to do for Cynthia:

-Keep her housed (we have currently funded through points and donations 70 days in a hotel + an additional 4 weeks through Urban League) until the mold is cleaned up

- Get her fence replaced- security need

- Dumpsters/Dump Overage Fees (~$1000-$1500 per dumpster)

- Interior Moved out

-Interior Demo'd as needed

-Mold Clean Up

-Windows Replaced

-A livable bedroom and plumbing to a bathroom

Dreams:

The needs are significant and we want to help her as much as possible. Any little bit helps.

And as we can and funds allow we are helping north city neighbors. So much help is needed it is overwhelming!