McKenzie Emergency Relocation Fund

My friend Brenda had to suddenly uproot her family and all of her belongings from their townhouse after very strong fumes came into their vents from their neighbors unit. Based on the odor and the symptoms they experienced, they believe that they were cooking illegal drugs. The police were notified but the apartment complex was not cooperative. Then the neighbors verbally threatened them and began beating on the walls and staring them down while sitting on the porch. Between everyone being made ill and the escalating violence from the neighbors, there was no choice but to break their lease and vacate immediately.

Her closest family member is over an hour away and they had to hire a company to pack up and move everything into storage. They stayed in Kalamazoo and hotels intermittently, often spending 8 hours or more in the car traveling, searching for a new home, consulting lawyers, and trying to stay sheltered. They had to eat all of their meals on the road. All while having three children under the age of four to take care of. They had to throw out all of their food and many belongings that cannot be cleaned due to contamination. It's been a very expensive and emotionally taxing couple of weeks for them, and while they are found a new home recently, they are still sorting the damage and trying to get everything out of storage before the next payments are due. They have depleted their savings and incurred over $5000.00 in debt just to survive being rendered homeless by a neighbors bad choices.

Please help this family if you can, all of this happened at the worst possible time while Brenda's husband was on a two week layoff from his job and not getting paid. They still have a long way to go in re-establishing a new home and seeking justice for what has happened. They are currently being threatened with a lawsuit from the apartment complex for breech of lease, unless they sign a waiver agreeing not to litigate or speak about the apartment complex and their obstruction and lack of timely investigation. To avoid signing the waiver they may have to pay an additional $4000.00 Brenda is an incredibly strong mama who will do anything for her family's safety and well-being, some financial relief would be a great weight off her shoulders, and give her resources to fight this injustice. Both for her family and any other families seeking safe housing in the Lansing area.

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