Strangers step up to help Bellaire cancer survivor whose flooded furniture was stolen

Jessica Willey Image
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Strangers step up to help woman who fell victim to flood, crime
The storms her a flood victim, and when she moved her furniture outside to dry, someone helped themselves to it. That's when strangers stepped in

BELLAIRE, TX (KTRK) -- Karen Griffin has been meeting new people all day. The Bellaire resident's home filled with three feet of floodwater early Tuesday morning.

"It was really really frightening," she said.

She started the overwhelming task of cleaning up as soon as she could.

"I'm really afraid of the mold," Griffin said.

And then she was hit again.

"Everything was gone and I started yelling to my son, 'Where's our furniture? Where's everything? Where's our TV?'" she recalled.

Griffin and her son had moved their furniture out to dry.

As they worked Tuesday afternoon inside, the flood victim who then became a crime victim.

"I was just so shocked," she said,

Someone stole not only that furniture, but also two dozen pairs of boots with sentimental value.

"They loaded up very quickly and went off," she said. "My father's boots that my son wears - I couldn't believe someone took those."

But just as fast as her things were gone, people responded to her call on social media for help.

"There's been a steady stream of complete strangers," Griffin said.

Among them is Ryan Clary.

"For someone to do this is just wrong. The least we can do is help leave her some clothes," Clary said.

Griffin is a breast cancer survivor who recently in remission.

"God doesn't give you more than you can handle so apparently god thinks I'm a bad ass," she said.

She's now shouldering the load with help and impressed by the good acts that sometimes comes as the result of bad ones.