My best friend Christie had an unfortunate thing happen to her. On July 4th,2007 there had been some pretty heavy rain in our area. Christie, along with 20+ families had to face the devastating effects that the rain brought early that morning. Like so many people Christie woke up to find her basement flooded with water.
I find it hard to understand why this happen to all of these families. They are all located on top of a hill so the water should have traveled down the hill instead of in their basements. I also noticed the road construction that had been going on right next to her home. They were supposed to be resurfacing the top of the street. I noticed the day before the big storm that the construction company's crew members had torn apart the storm drains and were doing some kind of work on them. All I know is that the letter that all the residents received before the road work stated that the work should take approx. 1wk. It has been over a month. To our surprise we found out that there was alot of debris in the storm drains all along the road being worked on, stuff that shouldn't have been there in the 1st place. I asked her in all of the years that she lived in her house did it ever flood at all? She said no. So I told her that it might not just be an act of nature, that someone else might be to blame. For example the construction company or even the City. As it turns out her neighbors all feel the same too.
Poor Christie, she had the worst of it in her basement. She got over 4ft. of water in her basement. All of her personal items and pictures she was saving were all ruined. Stuff that you just can't replace. Baby photos, cherished pictures, memories from the last 15yrs of her life ruined, gone. Washer, Dryer gone. Everything down there just completely destroyed.
Since that devastating day she has been a complete wreck. She has no way of really getting back what she lost. She rents the house she lives in and the landlord didn't have flood coverage included in the house's insurance. So Christie can't even get compensated for her loss. I really feel that it was the construction companies fault for every ones damage. I hope she gets something from all of this. She is a single mother trying to make it on her own and raise a wonderful little boy who doesn't understand why some of his toys and clothes got ruined. This has been such a difficult time for her and her son, and it really has taken a toll on them. She had to miss a lot of work in order to clean out the basement for the landlord, who of all people only made things worse for her. At one point the landlord said that she should not of had so much stuff in the basement. She was very upset with Christie because there was so much stuff that the landlord had to pay to have a special removal. She was in such a hurry to clean up the stuff and get rid of it that she started throwing Christies stuff out even the stuff that was salvageable. She even had the nerve to curse her out and disrespect Christie, and tell her she had to move. I understand the landlord's frustration with everything, but Christie lost more stuff, than the landlord, things nobody can replace. Eventually the landlord apologized for her own actions but it doesn't take back the mental anguish that she bestowed on her. Christie didn't deserve to be treated so cruelly. She was so depressed that she actually thought about taking her own life. With the loss of her belongings and the mental anguish, it was all becoming too much to handle. I did my best to be there for her in her time of need, I wanted to help out more, but she wouldn't let me since I'm pregnant. I did made it a point to be there for her,and to try and lift her spirits and keep her mind off of the bad thoughts. I feel like I helped. Today Christie was very depressed because she has exhausted all of her savings and was finding it hard to make ends meet, but out of the blue an angel came to her rescue and helped her in a way I could not. She received a phone call from the Dispatch, a local newspaper company and they told her that a man heard about her story and wanted to help her specifically. He gave a cash donation and told her that he hopes it helps her until she gets something from the insurance company either from the construction company or the city or both. Only time will tell, she may not get nothing. He wanted to remain anonymous, I believe that the bank said that if she wanted to thank this mystery she could give it to them and they would see to it that he received her appreciation and thanks.
She never expected that anyone would help her and she never asked for any charity of any kind, but this donation couldn't have come at a better time for her and her son, it will help her tremendously. She received $500. from this person and is eternally grateful. She wishes that she could meet this person, to tell him face to face how much he just helped her and her son. Since she can't she will send him her thanks, she respects his need for privacy. I'm just so happy that there are people out there like this person willing to give what they can to help someone out in their time of need. If anybody needed the help the most it was Christie. I wish I could thank him as well, he helped in a way that I couldn't and I am grateful too.
So if your out there and you happen to read my blog then you know who you are and we send our thanks and appreciation out to you. Thanks for your help, you made such an incredible difference. Words can't truly explain how thankful they are.
Long time no see, wow its been forever.
5 years ago