GRANITE CITY, Ill. — As Granite City flood victims start to restock and rebuild their homes, help is piling up thanks to two of their own. Ashlynn Wright and Jayme Marmuziewicz have set up a donation center that now consumes a room at the Granite City Township Building.
"We have people that come in still within these last three days that have water in their homes, that have had water in their homes for weeks," donation center organizer Ashlynn Wright said surrounded by stacks of canned goods.
Strangers before the flood, Wright and Marmuziewicz met through a Facebook group for flood victims. They decided to collect their own items, set up in a local park and let people come through to pick up anything they made need.
"I know how that feels," Marmuziewicz said. "Our whole basement was flooded with sewer. We lost everything in our family room, my 16-year-old son's room, everything. I've gone through it. I saved all our clothes, and I just feel like I needed to give back."
Wright and Marmuziewicz soon found out they weren't the only ones longing to help their neighbors. The room is now filled by the kindness of strangers. There's been a steady stream of donations after the flood.
"We're grateful, we're overwhelmed, and we're overjoyed all at the same time. If you can be all those things at once," Wright said.
Sondra Palmer combs through the piles of clothes for her daughter, who lost a lot of her wardrobe when Palmer's finished basement and laundry room flooded.
"We might get hot water today," Palmer said. "After two weeks of showering at other people's houses, not being able to cook because the gas was turned off... hot water in the house is a good thing."
"You can't even imagine the stories we've heard," Marmuziewicz said. "We've gone home with tears in our eyes and just cried, and thought 'You know, we didn't have it so bad. I'm making it.' But you know what, I'm making a difference in somebody else's life too."
Their center started with two moms and two trucks, but a whole community is piling on to restock Granite City, one home at a time.
Originally, Wright and Marmuziewicz planned to set up inside the Township Building for the weekend, but the need’s been so overwhelming that they’re extending their time inside. They say Mayor Ed Hagnauer is allowing them to keep the doors open until 5 p.m. Friday.
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