Family helped after mold invades home

[Guest guest]

SEASON ON SHARING

Family helped after mold invades home

The Jewish Family & Children's Service helped Laritha Burks and her

kids move.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Sarasota,FL

By EMILY MORRIS

emily.morris@...

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20070122/NEWS/701220352

SARASOTA -- Laritha Burks was in a bind. The Sarasota County Health

Department said the mold in her apartment was making her son

seriously ill, but she did not have the money to move.

The mother of three rambunctious boys, Burks is a certified nurse's

assistant who was living paycheck to paycheck to support her family

when her oldest child, 6-year-old Chancey Freeman, became sick.

Chancey started waking up at night unable to catch his breath. He

had always suffered from asthma, but it was becoming uncontrollable.

" He was constantly sick. It got worse and worse and I couldn't

figure out what was going on, " Burks said. " We were constantly at

the emergency room. He couldn't breathe at night. "

At her wit's end, Burks asked the Health Department to conduct a

home inspection.

The result was alarming.

The inspector found the inside of the apartment walls and the air-

conditioning vents covered with mold.

" It was disgusting, " Burks said. " He (the inspector) said my son

absolutely could not come back to that apartment. "

Burks was told the only way to remove the mold was to tear down the

walls, something the apartment complex managers were not willing to

do.

" The landlady said, 'I don't know what to tell you,' " Burks

remembered. " I said, 'What do you mean you don't know what to tell

me? My rent's always on time.' "

Unable to come up with the rent and security deposit to move, Burks

sought help from Jewish Family & Children's Service of Sarasota-

Manatee, which participates in the Season of Sharing emergency

financial assistance program.

" It wasn't like she couldn't afford her housing, it was just that

she couldn't afford to move, " said Jamil , coordinator of

JFCS's Building Strong Families Program.

Jewish Services, which never asked Burks about her religious

affiliation, put her in touch with a Realtor, who showed her several

homes until she found one she wanted.

Burks was able to contribute $1,200 toward rent and a security

deposit, while JFCS and the Salvation Army paid the additional move-

in expenses of $1,600.

Remembering how desperate she was, Burks gets angry at the treatment

she received from her former apartment's managers.

" Those people didn't care about us. They didn't care we had nowhere

to go, " Burks said. " I honestly don't know what I would have done. "

Burks found the compassion she needed at JFCS.

" Her child was sick. It is very scary for any parent not to be able

to come back to her home with her child, " said.

After leaving the apartment, the change in Chancey's health was

immediately apparent, Burks said.

" The swelling in his eyes went down, " she said. " He could breathe. "

[Guest guest]

They don't know what to tell us?

They know perfectly well what they are telling us..