Help Elena and Jamie recover from flood

Wildlife champion Elena Rizzo and her husband Jamie have been beset by one challenge after another over the last few years. Now they are reeling from yet another. This past Friday – March 11 – they awoke to five inches of standing water on the lower level of their Saratoga Springs (NY) home after a faulty valve gave way during the night, inundating their home while they slept.

 

Unless you’ve been through it, recovering from such flooding might seem fairly easily managed. Swap out the carpet, maybe replace a couch. But that's not how it is. They'll need a new floor to replace the one Elena only recently installed. They may need new walls. Elena had just taken over her mother’s finances, and all of those records and files were in a box on the floor. All were lost.

 

There’ll be countless calls to claims adjusters, repair persons, and the like.

 

It’s a terrible time for this to happen to these two.

They were preparing for a major life change, to move in with Elena's mother, Norma, so Elena could help out more there. Elena's father died somewhat unexpectedly just last year.

Elena was preparing their home for sale, and she was preparing Norma's house for their move-in.

The move-in preparations are not trivial. Jamie needs a handicapped-accessible home, as he was incapacitated three years ago by a major stroke, at just 47 years of age. Elena tends to his needs every day, as he works to regain his abilities.

 

Job one is to find a housing situation for Jamie, as neither his nor Elena’s mother’s will safely meet his needs.

 

During these challenges, Elena has continued to excel in her work for Animal Help Now, a national nonprofit that benefits injured and orphaned wild animals and the people who are trying to help them. She also has continued to operate her own at-home wildlife rehabilitation service, though of course she has had to scale back on that.

 

 

 

I know because I’m Elena’s supervisor that she is not well paid. None of us here are. Though its reach is large, it’s a small nonprofit with a very modest budget.

 

Elena actually started with Animal Help Now as a volunteer. I remember first hearing from her. She had just learned about our wildlife emergency service, and she contacted me directly to find out how she could help, even though our service had not yet expanded to her home state.

 

That's the kind of person she is, and that's why I'm asking you today to show her and Jamie some love and support.

 

Please donate today to help Elena and Jamie endure this latest trial.