Milwaukee nonprofit that helps pet owners damaged by flooding
MKE pet-focused nonprofit damaged by flooding
A place that usually helps others needs help itself. Items like pet food, dog treats, and cat litter were damaged or destroyed by the recent flooding in southeastern Wisconsin. Now, the Milwaukee nonprofit is trying to pick up the pieces to continue its mission.
MILWAUKEE - A place that usually helps others needs help itself.
Items like pet food, dog treats, and cat litter were damaged or destroyed by the recent flooding in southeastern Wisconsin.
Now, the Milwaukee nonprofit is trying to pick up the pieces to continue its mission.
Roxz's Resources and Awareness impacted
What we know:
Near the Morgan Heights Neighborhood in Milwaukee, crates and buckets are among the few items the non-profit was able to save after being hit by the historic flooding.
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Brown Deer flood recovery; family lost critical medical supplies
A Brown Deer family is trying to figure out what's next after flooding destroyed their basement and most of the items in it.
"Walls are gone. Rack is gone. Food is gone. Supplies are gone. Everything is gone," said Vicky Van Lare.
Vicky Van Lare walks through the damage left in her basement after several feet of sewage water took over what was a space dedicated to Roxz's Resources and Awareness, Inc., a non-profit focused on helping families with pets.
"The water is so fast and furious. It flipped our massive appliances over and the big racking system that we had with everything on it like people could come down and volunteer to come down. The supplies were tipped over when we looked down here in the morning. We had bags of food floating," added Van Lare.
Damage to the basement wall
The water rose more than three feet. She believes it caused more than $50,000 in damage.
"The drywall and that supports the drywall, and we found out that our wall is now cracked. We have to get this fixed estimate, get this fixed," she said.
Fans are now heard running in the empty space that was once filled with food, treats, beds and toys for pets.
Shelves collapsed onto the floor
"I cried, I cried, and I thought of all the families that we help that I can’t help them right now," she added.
Van Lare says insurance does not cover the flood damage to her non-profit.
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For now, she says it's the community's support that is helping her keep going.
Damaged items thrown away
"It just breaks my heart and I just have to concentrate. I’m getting my basement clean and getting back up and going and, most of all, taking care of my old mental health, because if I can’t be there for me, I can’t be there for anybody else," she said.
Roxz's Resources and Awareness is holding a fundraiser in September.
The Source: FOX6 spoke to the founder of Roxz's Resources and Awareness, Inc. to produce this story.