Officers paying off disabled veteran's mortgage need your help

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Four local police officers have been paying the mortgage for a disabled veteran, but their sacrifice is starting to catch up with them.

Two years ago, Leeni Peltoniemi, 61, found a notice of foreclosure on her front door after missing two mortgage payments on her home in the Beechnut Park subdivision in southwest Harris County. She's a Finnish native, disabled US Navy and now naturalized US citizen. Her home is like a shrine to her family's history going back for centuries.

"It is a museum of my family and the history of it," Peltoniemi told Eyewitness News.

In a panic after the foreclosure notice, Peltoniemi started looking for help and found Harris County deputy Willie Drew.

"She has made a sacrifice, and because she made a sacrifice, we have to be able to give something back to her," Drew said.

Drew is the Executive Director of Mountain Top Development, a non-profit that helps people including veterans find housing. Mountain Top bought Peltoniemi's home at auction two years ago, but because of its limited funds, the four police officers have been paying the note.

"When I think about what they've done, how remarkable! Cops. They have their families. They have their bills. They have their houses. They stepped forward and carried the ball," Peltoniemi said fighting back tears.

The officers, all Harris County deputies, have been splitting $1,100 among themselves for months. They are modest about it.

"It's not really that big a deal for us. We saw someone who needed help, a disabled veteran so we decided this is something we wanted to do," explained Robert Cantu, a sergeant with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

However, on their sheriff's office salaries, it's getting tougher. They hope someone can help. It's Peltoniemi's dream to stay in her home.

"It's my life. It's what left," Peltoniemi said.

You can help the officers help Peltoniemi by donating to Mountain Top Development.