Volunteers needed to help Mesa flood victim
By: Michelle Chance
Two floods that drowned Mesa neighborhoods in September continue to affect residents one month later.
The community is coming together to help neighbors put their homes back together after the devastating water damage.
Mesa resident Zachary Stone, is raising funds and calling for volunteers to help clean and rebuild a neighbor’s home that was, at one point, under five to six inches of water last month.
Stone said that his neighbor, Ethel Rozelle, was staying with various neighbors after the floods because the conditions inside of her home were unsafe.
“She’s 75 years old, she’s got respiratory problems. I couldn’t in good conscience let her sleep on an air mattress,” Stone said.
Stone set his neighbor up in a motor home in the driveway of his house which is complete with air conditioning, water, and electricity.
According to Stone, Rozelle is still living in the motor home, hoping the damage to her home can be fixed with the help of volunteers.
“Once we get an environmental hygienist in there, and they say, ‘Yes, the house is safe,’ then we can start putting it back together,” Stone said. “That’s when the volunteers will need to come in and put up drywall and paint.”
Around 15 volunteers helped move Rozelle’s belongings out of her house and into a storage unit on Oct. 18.
With approximately 10 percent of the damage fixed so far, Stone also created a fund-raising page online to raise money for repairs.
“Like I said on the GoFundMe page, $5 buys a box of screws, $10 buys a bucket of mud, $20 buys a sheet of sheetrocks, $50 will buy a cabinet, and it just goes up from there,” Stone said.
Stone estimates that if everything runs smoothly, Ethel could be back in her home within a month for around $10,000.
“If I can get all the work donated, and United Way comes through with the flooring that they said they had, I could probably get her house fixed for under $10,000,” Stone said.
According to Stone, Rozelle is waiting to see if she is approved for funding from her bank to repair the damage, however due to a reverse mortgage on her home, she is unsure whether she will be approved.
“If this doesn’t happen and she doesn’t get funding from the bank, and we’re not able to fix this through donations, she will lose her house and she will be on the street,” Stone said.
At the time that this issue went to print, volunteers had raised $695 in donations.
Those who are interested in donating can visit the fund-raising page for Rozelle at www.gofundme.com, search “Rebuild Ethel’s house after flood”.
People interested in volunteering their time to help repair Rozelle’s house can contact Zachary Stone at (602) 695-8146.
Note: In an earlier version of this story it was reported that Rochelle was 85 years old. She is actually 75 years old.
