Kind Strangers Rent Storage Unit for Evicted Missouri Family

Gladstone, Missouri citizens gave new meaning to the term “good Samaritan” last week. Gladstone city officials had just informed a family that they would have to leave their home,  not because of foreclosure -- but because the home was not safe. Early this summer, the home had begun to slide down a hill. The house belongs to Russell and Roberta Sitzman, who had lived there for 35 years and were surviving on disability payments. Last Thursday, Gladstone’s city engineers condemned the house, telling the Sitzmans that they would have to leave the house by 6 pm Friday. After the Sitzmans’ story was broadcast on a local news station Thursday night, strangers began showing up at the house to help the Sitzmans to move and pack. They took up a collection and rented a storage unit for the family.

During last Thursday's evening news broadcast, Russell Sitzman told a FOX News reporter, “The only thing I’m worried about is where my wife and my kids are going to stay. Me, I can sleep in the streets,” he insisted. When Gladstone residents saw the Sitzmans on the news, however, everything changed.

“It seems like people come from everywhere,” Russell Sitzman told an NBC Action News reporter the next day. “It’s hard for me to believe that there’s this many good people.” The strangers packed up everything in the Sitzmans’ house for them, moving them free of charge and getting all of their belongings out of the house with just hours to spare before the city’s deadline. One Gladstone resident, Debbie Gray, told FOX News that she would do anything the Sitzmans needed her to do -- pack, make phone calls, mop floors.

Gladstone resident Marcus McIntire rented a truck and was determined to help the Sitzmans move and to find them a storage space after seeing their story on the news. He is also working on finding the family a place to live. “I’ve had times of need before, and this is a terrible thing that’s happening to these people,” McIntire told FOX. “I had some time on my hands today, a little extra money I could spare, so I decided to go rent a truck, and I’m going to look into getting them a rental storage unit for a couple of months until they can figure out what they’re going to do.”

Tammy Burland, a member of local Discover Community Church, also got involved in the storage rental effort. She told reporters, “We have offered to rent a storage space for this family for three months. They’ve got to have somewhere to put their stuff today.”

The community did find a storage unit and moved the Sitzman family belongings into it.

For now, the Sitzmans themselves will stay at the home of family members, and city officials promised that they would work with the Sitzmans to find a solution for the house. The entire family was very touched by the community effort, according to Russell Sitzman, who told FOX afterward, “When you’re put in this situation, you just think there’s nobody out there, but then you get a gentleman like this and some nice lady coming in to help my wife pack, it makes you feel so much better.”

Sources used:

Clark, Sarah. “Strangers rally around Gladstone family forced out of home.” Fox 4KC.com. Aug. 20, 2010.

Clegg, Mark. “Family struggles for answers and help as their home slides down a hill.” NBC Action News. Aug. 18, 2010.

Sherman, Najahe. “Officials evict a Gladstone family from their house and the community comes to the rescue.” NBC Action News. Aug. 20, 2010.