LIBERTY Volunteers help flooded-out woman move back in

By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- After four months of work, volunteers helped 74-year-old Lois Maksim move back into her Keefer Road home.
Maksim, who suffers from cancer and emphysema, was flooded out of her slab home July 21; she lost most of her first-floor furnishings, and much of the house was covered in black mold. The damage wasn't reimbursed by her insurance carrier, who determined the damage was the result of surface water.
Determined not to let Maksim's case fall through the cracks, and to let the woman keep her home, area volunteers from the Trumbull County Long-Term Recovery and Needs Agency went to work.
Cleanup work
The group, a coalition of local churches and nonprofit organizations, has worked since August to clean up the mold, repair the floors and insulation and clean the home Maksim has lived in for 39 years. Maksim and her daughter, Loraine Maksim, who makes her home with her mother, were able to move back in Thursday.
"We just have a little more touch-up work to do in that home, and then we will work on the others," said Pat Cline of Warren, a coordinator of the agency.
The "others" Cline refers to are a second Liberty home and one in Girard, also heavily damaged by last summer's floods. Cline led a group of about eight volunteers Thursday in installing a new floor, walls and insulation at 4995 Fifth Ave. Extension, Liberty, and installing a furnace at 304 W. Broadway Ave., Girard.
"The woman on Broadway was heating her home with her stove," Cline said. "She was on the waiting list for the weatherization program in Trumbull County, but they ran out of funding."
Work in the spring
Once the furnace is installed, Cline said, crews will return to the Girard home in the spring to do additional repair work.
The homes worked on Thursday are just a few of the more than 100 Trumbull County homes cleaned and repaired through the coalition, including eight that were extensively renovated. Volunteers raised more than $30,000 to fund their efforts, he said, and that amount is now down to about $18,000.
The group was formed specifically to help meet the needs of people whose homes were damaged by the summer floods. To date, they have referred more than 1,000 people to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for additional help.
Volunteers are also continuing to take requests for help and to raise funds, Cline said.
The coalition created the Northeast Ohio Disaster Relief Fund at Second National Bank. Donations to the fund can be made at any local branch of the bank, he said.
Those looking for help with cleaning or repairs can contact the coalition at (330) 392-7927.
slshaulis@vindy.com