Rebuild Mary Ann Miller's Home
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My mother, Mary Ann Miller, is a former school teacher, a christian, and an elder (her 70th birthday is this year!). She taught for 14 years on the Navajo Nation as an elementary and middle school teacher. In 2013, her hearing started to go bad, thus making it hard for her to work and eventually unable to teach anymore. Her hearing is unfortunately getting worse and she says hearing aids do not work for her. Now she is unemployed and lives off of social security.
Sadly on June 28th, 2015, my mother suffered an unrecoverable loss when her single wide trailer caught on fire in Kayenta, Arizona. The trailer started burning when an unknown person lit my fiancé's car on fire (he is an army veteran and is also a teacher, like me). He was attending Arizona State University (the same school I got my undergraduate degree from "Go Sundevils") at the time when his car was burned.
The night before the fire, my mother, fiancé, and I were looking after our crops we had planted by hand at our small family farm in Narrow Canyon, which is about 20 minutes away from Kayenta. My fiancé's car was parked near my mother's trailer and after the car was fully engulfed in flames, the fire jumped over to my mother's trailer and burned about a third of it. She currently lives in the small kitchen area of her trailer. About half of the trailer has been without electricity ever since and the insulation in her trailer is bad, making the high summer and low winter temperatures a hardship for her, especially since she is getting older.
After the fire, her insurance was able to pay off the rest of her trailer mortgage, but she was unable to get any funds from her insurance to help cover restoration costs. And now just a few weeks ago, her place was also broken into on two separate occasions within the same week. The burglars broke into her place when she was not present though. She did lose some precious items, but thankfully she was out of harms way and was not there when it happened. The burning of her trailer and now it being broken into, has caused her a lot of stress and she does not even want to leave her place to go anywhere.
Currently, I (Celeste Gilman) am living off of a Teach For America salary as a beginning Elementary Teacher at Navajo Elementary in Navajo, which is located on the Navajo Nation and in New Mexico, and my brother is living and working full time in Phoenix, Arizona. As a result, it has been a struggle for us to pay for restorations. Therefore I am asking for $10,000 on my mother's behalf to cover restoration costs. $4,500 of the funds will be used to redo the electricity for the areas in the trailer that are not working. $3,500 of the funds will be used to restore the insulation and dry wall. Lastly, $2,000 of the funds will be used to help secure the trailer more with metal bars, security alarms, and lights.
My brother, fiancé, and I plan to start working full time to restore my mother's trailer starting June of this year. We have been making minor upgrades on the weekends and during our breaks when we can, but with our own limited funds, we are only able to do so much. Also, since I am a Teach For America corps member, I can only work right now in New Mexico, and where I live right now is the closest I am able to be near my mother, which is about 2 and a half hours away. Hopefully in the future I can get a job back in Kayenta and be near her full time, but for now I have to teach here in Navajo and do the best I can by visiting her on weekends and breaks.
Any contribution, big or small would help us tremendously to rebuild my mothers home and get her back into a safe and stable living place. Once her trailer is fixed up, I know she will be able to have a better quality of life instead of living in a burned up trailer and worrying everyday about her own safety and security. As her daughter, I'll finally have some peace of mind knowing my mom is living in a secure and habitable home, even though I may be far away from her.
Your support and donations will be greatly appreciated, it will make a world of difference for my mother and put a smile on her face for sure. Thank you very much for watching and reading our story. Ahéhee'!
Sadly on June 28th, 2015, my mother suffered an unrecoverable loss when her single wide trailer caught on fire in Kayenta, Arizona. The trailer started burning when an unknown person lit my fiancé's car on fire (he is an army veteran and is also a teacher, like me). He was attending Arizona State University (the same school I got my undergraduate degree from "Go Sundevils") at the time when his car was burned.
The night before the fire, my mother, fiancé, and I were looking after our crops we had planted by hand at our small family farm in Narrow Canyon, which is about 20 minutes away from Kayenta. My fiancé's car was parked near my mother's trailer and after the car was fully engulfed in flames, the fire jumped over to my mother's trailer and burned about a third of it. She currently lives in the small kitchen area of her trailer. About half of the trailer has been without electricity ever since and the insulation in her trailer is bad, making the high summer and low winter temperatures a hardship for her, especially since she is getting older.
After the fire, her insurance was able to pay off the rest of her trailer mortgage, but she was unable to get any funds from her insurance to help cover restoration costs. And now just a few weeks ago, her place was also broken into on two separate occasions within the same week. The burglars broke into her place when she was not present though. She did lose some precious items, but thankfully she was out of harms way and was not there when it happened. The burning of her trailer and now it being broken into, has caused her a lot of stress and she does not even want to leave her place to go anywhere.
Currently, I (Celeste Gilman) am living off of a Teach For America salary as a beginning Elementary Teacher at Navajo Elementary in Navajo, which is located on the Navajo Nation and in New Mexico, and my brother is living and working full time in Phoenix, Arizona. As a result, it has been a struggle for us to pay for restorations. Therefore I am asking for $10,000 on my mother's behalf to cover restoration costs. $4,500 of the funds will be used to redo the electricity for the areas in the trailer that are not working. $3,500 of the funds will be used to restore the insulation and dry wall. Lastly, $2,000 of the funds will be used to help secure the trailer more with metal bars, security alarms, and lights.
My brother, fiancé, and I plan to start working full time to restore my mother's trailer starting June of this year. We have been making minor upgrades on the weekends and during our breaks when we can, but with our own limited funds, we are only able to do so much. Also, since I am a Teach For America corps member, I can only work right now in New Mexico, and where I live right now is the closest I am able to be near my mother, which is about 2 and a half hours away. Hopefully in the future I can get a job back in Kayenta and be near her full time, but for now I have to teach here in Navajo and do the best I can by visiting her on weekends and breaks.
Any contribution, big or small would help us tremendously to rebuild my mothers home and get her back into a safe and stable living place. Once her trailer is fixed up, I know she will be able to have a better quality of life instead of living in a burned up trailer and worrying everyday about her own safety and security. As her daughter, I'll finally have some peace of mind knowing my mom is living in a secure and habitable home, even though I may be far away from her.
Your support and donations will be greatly appreciated, it will make a world of difference for my mother and put a smile on her face for sure. Thank you very much for watching and reading our story. Ahéhee'!
Organizer
Dził Ba Hadadolgháásh
Organizer
Kayenta, AZ
