MONROE – Crews tore down an old mobile home south of Monroe within a few hours.
The pile of wreckage was what Carlota Cornejo once called home, until last winter’s floods and storms ravaged the structure.
“It was sad because it has a lot of memories of my son,” Cornejo, 40, said.
Her oldest son, Cristian, died of heart complications in December, a few weeks after the storm wrecked their family home.
But Cornejo knew that the old mobile home on Lost Lake Road needed to be removed so that her family can start a new life.
On Monday morning, three companies donated their time, equipment and labor to demolish the mobile home to clear the ground for rebuilding.
Wilder Construction of Everett tore down the structure. American Environmental Construction of Seattle removed the asbestos. And Democon of Maltby hauled off debris in dumpsters.
“It’s always good to give somebody a hand when they need it,” said Casey Baker, an operator of Wilder Construction.
Churches in Monroe, including Monroe Community Chapel and St. Mary of the Valley, coordinated the cleanup project, said Abraham King, coordinator for the North American Disaster Relief Foundation.
“It’s a community effort,” said Steve Muller, pastor of Monroe Community Chapel.
Matt Reed, also pastor of the church, had inspected the mobile home a couple times and gathered manpower for the cleanup, Muller said.
Cornejo isn’t a member of the church, so the church needed to reach out to her in order to help, Muller said.
“If you look at examples of Jesus, he was always helping the poor,” Muller said. “He taught us to do the same. We can’t help everybody, but sometimes there are situations we need to get involved in. And this is one of those situations.”
More help is on the way to install a new mobile home for Cornejo and her children, Justin, 3; Leslie, 11; and Bryan, 13.
“To say thank you is not enough,” Cornejo said.
Cornejo used to live in the mobile home with her five children. In November, the Election Day flood came, sending floodwater to the home. In December, two windstorms hit the structure, leaving the family out of power for days.
Between the storms is when her oldest son, Cristian, 22, died of heart complications. The college student used to help his mother, who works at night as a nursing assistant.
“He was my right hand,” she said.
His death came out of the blue, she said. She has yet to see his death certificate to learn what exactly caused the death. She’s not ready.
Her oldest daughter, Xiomara, 20, now lives by herself in Everett, Cornejo said. Cornejo still has the three youngest to take care of. She bought a used mobile home using part of about $10,000 that she received as disaster relief from the federal government.
The family now stays at a motel in Bothell. Cornejo is looking forward to moving into their new mobile home.
“This is for my children. They deserve a better place,” Cornejo said.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@ heraldnet.com.
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