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Help 67 Year-Old Joplin Woman Losing Home To City
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$4,001 raised of $20K
42 donations
UPDATE:
It is with heartfelt sadness that we watched the Joplin City Council members vote to tear down Ms. Bray’s home on Monday night (8/21/23). All but one council member, Dr. Mark Farnham voted to tear her home down... thus rendering
her homeless. Thank you Dr. Farnham for your empathy towards our elderly, and for listening to the needs of Joplin residents! Regardless, even at this moment, we must remember that…
“Out of the hottest fire comes the strongest steel”
In that thought, it is important to note that our Joplin City Government also approved a 3.5 Million dollar home ARPA Grant Monday night to allegedly help people get into homes or rehabilitate their dilapidated homes. Let’s see if the City approves Ms. Bray's property for a JHAP home. Regardless,
let’s rebuild her a one story 1300 square foot home. Friends near and far, whose in?
Ultimately, it saddened us to hear some on this Council jistify this demolition by making false statements and publicly state half truths about Donna and her home, knowing little of the facts of the situation, refusing to respond to my emails that detailed our concerns, as well as the facts we had learned through legal documents, information collected from her neighbors, and actual Joplin Board of Appeals minutes, and not even giving us the opportunity to state the facts that would have demonstrated their statements false! Regardless, and as a result, it strengthened mine and others resolve to help this 67-year-old Joplin resident. Furthermore, it highlighted that this Council has apparently become incapable of working as a body that represents the interests of our constituents of whom they have sworn to do everything in their power to represent, as well as look out for their interests!
We asked for a mere five months to get Ms. Bray's home repaired… and they responded by smacking us down with the back of their hand, costing Donna her home, and leaving her crying and homeless as she left the Council chambers!
Regardless, this has emboldened me, and given us the will and fortitude to work towards ensuring she not only retains the land, but gets a new home built on her property! Therefore, when the demolition is complete, we will begin working towards the effort of helping her rebuild her home, and do what the city blatantly appears to no longer work towards… representing, helping, and protecting the citizens of Joplin!
You can help by donating to Donna’s GoFundMe, or volunteering time and labor! Please join our effort and let’s show our city’s leaders how we truly can make Joplin Strong!
A local 67-year-old Joplin woman, longtime resident, and survivor of the May 22, 2011 Joplin tornado has been dealt one massive blow after another! Today, she is having to plead with the Joplin City Government, asking them to allow her to keep her home of 40 years, which she has long paid off, and also pleading for them not to make her another victim of the streets… by making her homeless!
In fact, our Joplin Government is seeking to demolish her home following what they say was an anonymous caller who wasn’t asking that it be condemned, nor stating that it was a nuisance, but that they wanted it straight up destroyed…
Donna Bray had long paid off her home of 40 years, raised her 2 boys within its walls, and made countless memories in the home, but now her home is being targeted by the City of Joplin for demolition, according to the March 24, 2023 Joplin Building Board of Appeals meeting agenda, starting on page 13.
Sadly, she has struggled to keep up with its aging condition due factors out of her control, such as her brush with death during the May 22, 2011 Joplin tornado, then financial difficulties, Covid-19 lockdowns, and most recently, the exploding inflationary prices of lumber and building materials. Meanwhile, she has been trying to live off of a mere $1,000 per month, and was even forced to use her money that she hoped to use towards home repairs, having to hire an attorney, which temporarily forced the city to back down. Unfortunately, a short time later, and after having depleted her legal funds, the city turned its sights back on Bray’s home!
Now, with nowhere left to turn, Ms. Bray asked me for my help, which led me to personally reach out to the City Council last week. Sadly, only one Council member, Dr. Mark Farnham responded. He sympathized, and was even willing to meet with, and talked with her!
Ultimately, to understand her plight, as well as the mental and physical exhaustion that she now suffers from, you have to understand where her difficulties began! Although life is never easy for a single woman who raised two boys, she had no idea how difficult her life would become, starting in 2011!
About an hour before the Joplin May 22, 2011 tornado struck, Donna was shopping at the 7th Street Wal-Mart. When the sirens began sounding, she rushed to her son's home on 26th and Virginia Avenue, where she felt she would be safe! Unfortunately, she was wrong! In fact, by the time she arrived at her son’s home, debris from the fringe of the tornado was already striking her vehicle. She climbed about halfway into her son’s basement through an outside entry with her 2 and 4 year-old grandchildren, when the 4-year-old grandchild stopped and refused to advance with eyes welling up pouring tears! Whether it was pure luck, good fortune, or more likely God’s will, if they had gone any further, they would have been sucked into the 2-mile-wide EF5 tornado and killed! The Joplin Globe described the tragedy by stating…
“The house above them was torn apart and scattered, exposing the basement to 200 mph-plus winds. Then, nearly everything in the basement was sucked up into the funnel.”
It was noted that…
“The four of them, huddled on the stairs, managed to safely ride out the storm, though not unscathed.”
The only thing left in the basement was a few pieces of china, Donna Bray, her two precious grandchildren, and her son!
Donna Bray’s son's head was bloodied, and Donna suffered from a compound fracture of the leg, making it impossible for her to walk, or even stand! Thankfully, two incredible citizen bystanders came to her rescue!
Since then, although the dreadful memories of that day remain engraved into her mind, Bray has since recovered from her physical injuries. However, that was unfortunately a period in time when she began to fall further and further behind in keeping up with the physical maintenance of her home!
Living on meager financial resources
and trying to keep her aging home maintained, her physical recovery compounded the issue. Then, came COVID-19, and everything shut down… Followed by the mass inflation of prices on construction and building materials! Combine that with an anonymous call to the citythat brought the full weight of the city coming down on her to move out and let the city demolish her home to make way for a developer.
Now she is desperately in need of help from our graciously generous community!
Sadly, with the city labeling her home a dangerous property, it has made it nearly impossible for her to acquire the needed funds to fix up her aging home. However, the big question we have is… Who is her home a danger to? The city said it is listed as a dangerous property because it was accessible to vandals due to a growing homeless population that has plagues her neighborhood! Therefore, that brings up two major questions… Does that mean that the city considers the homeowner guilty when their homes are broken into… even the homeowners are the victims? Shouldn’t the city be focused on resolving the homeless issue, rather than targeting the homeowners who fall victim to the growing homeless issues?
Secondly, how can the city consider her home safe for her to live in it, but a danger to the city of Joplin! How is a structure a danger to the city, but safe for the resident?
Meanwhile, in an effort to save her home, Ms. Bray has been doing any work that she can in restoring the home herself, and using what little means she has available to purchase materials. But meanwhile, she has been forced to attend Joplin Building Board of Appeals meeting… After meeting… After meeting… each time presenting evidence of her progress in fixing up her own property!
Then, sadly instead of removing her from their agenda, they simply move the discussion to the next meeting, and next meeting, and next meeting, making it nearly impossible for her to even catch her breath, let alone fix her home! Furthermore, every time she has missed a meeting… one time due to illness, and another due to car trouble, the Joplin Building Board of Appeals approved her home for demolition, forcing her to scramble to save her home!
So far, she has reached out to Joplin Habitat for Humanity, Economic Security Corporation of SW Missouri, Catholic Charities of SW Missouri, Housing Authority of Joplin, HUD, and a few private companies, and all were showing the willingness or ability to provide resources to help her out, but not with a the city’s dark cloud hanging over her property. A dark cloud that works incessantly to turn her home to rubble, and leave her homeless!
Ms. Bray needs the city to give her some room, so she can work on gathering financial resources, and work to garner bids and hire contractors! Meanwhile, we don’t need our city tossing our residents… especially our older retired residents out of their life-long, fully-paid-off homes and into the streets! Isn’t that what the city says they want to utilize ARPA funds to help blighted areas of our community? Isn’t Donna Bray a perfect prospect for our city using ARPA funds to restore blighted neighborhoods?
Therefore, I have already begun reaching out to city leaders, fighting for our Joplin City Government to end this attack on one of our long-time Joplin residents, and meanwhile I am setting up a Go-Fund-Me campaign to help Ms. Bray rehabilitate her home!
If you would like to, and have the means to help, please make a donation to help her save her! Also, if you are a contractor, subcontractor, or local business… Please reach out to help one of our own!
For more information I can be reached at:
Source of Strangers No More article… on her May 22, 2011 tornado tragedy: https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/strangers-no-more/article_929b2903-06af-59a5-8057-cea5b9a8f638.html