For a family of seven, today is their final day they can stay at an Ocala motel after their trailer was destroyed during storms that swept through North Central Florida last week.
Shakketa Williams and Tanee Walls, who share five children ranging in age from 12 to 4, don’t know where they’re going to sleep tonight. The Red Cross generously provided the first four nights, and the couple is trying to gather money to stay.
“They told us we had to leave everything,” Williams said of the destruction at their trailer home in Belleview, about 30 minutes south of Ocala.
On Jan. 9, severe weather and tornado warnings were sent out to residents in the region. The couple prepared by making dinner and bathing their children early in case they lost power, Williams said. That night, as the women lay in bed, a boom crashed through their house when a tree fell through the roof of their trailer and onto their bed.
Thankfully, the two jumped out of the way just in time.
“We [saw] our life flash before our eyes when we were sitting in the room where the trees fell,” WIlliams said. “The first thing that runs through your mind is, ‘Where is everybody?’”
The women’s first instinct was to get their children; they yelled out for them and ran down the hall and collected all five of them. As the rain continued pouring into their exposed home, the fire department encouraged the couple to call the Red Cross, who was able to give them $1,000 and four nights at a motel. Since the storms weren’t declared a disaster, the nonprofit’s hands were tied to provide more assistance.
According to Spectrum News, the county deemed their trailer uninhabitable. The couple does not have renter’s insurance and per their lease, the landlord is not responsible for acts of God like this storm.
The couple has tried to keep a sense of normalcy for their children, driving them to their school in Belleview. But their 4-year-old asks every day whether they’re going home, and when it starts raining, he says a tornado is coming. The family has had a rough go at it, too — the week before Christmas, Walls lost her job after being laid off from another job three months prior.
Michelle Scott, who has worked with Williams for two years, sprung into action and created a GoFundMe page for the family and started collecting clothing, toiletries and gift cards.
“I just went into action because that’s just who I am, and she’s a good person,” Scott said of her coworker. “She’s gone through a lot lately, and then this happened, just as soon as you just start trying to get back up on your feet.”
So far, the family has received $675 out of their $5,000 goal.
“The biggest concern is replacing our home and being able to know that it’s going to be OK, that we’re going to get our lives back on track,” Williams said. “Everybody’s uprooted at the moment. Every child deserves to have a home to come to, to say ‘I’m going home’ instead of ‘Where are we staying at tonight?’”
If you’d like to help the family, please consider donating to their GoFundMe.
