Family Finds Comfort in Red Cross Shelter
Resting comfortably, sisters Hope Askenette and Sheila Franzen relaxed on a cot in an American Red Cross shelter next to each other on a warm and muggy Friday, recounting their adventure from the night before when they discovered a torrent of rushing water outside their window at 10 p.m. the night before.
Sheila’s first floor apartment was still dry, so they went outside with their neighbors to wade through the water. “Everyone was laughing. It was interesting,” Hope, Sheila’s sister, says.
Together, Hope and Sheila’s six kids relaxed together, while Sheila and Hope went upstairs to sleep so they would be ready to take Sheila’s husband for his operation the next day.
The sisters’ sleep was interrupted by banging on the door at 4 a.m. when local authorities started evacuating their apartment building. “I woke my sister up. We had three minutes to grab everything we could,” Hope says.
“She was in shock,” Sheila says. “We were running around, just grabbing everything.”
As they went into the hallway, they found water running through the front door. “I knew it,” says Sheila. “I knew as soon as my feet got wet, that we were in trouble.”
Together with their kids, they made their way to a dry field, then to a dump truck that took them to high ground. From there, they were taken to the Red Cross shelter at theFond du Lac Fairgrounds.
The sisters arrived cold and wet, trying to comfort their kids, who were terrified. Red Cross volunteers stepped in to take care of them. “They were really good people,” said Hope. “They tried to find everything they could to cover us up. They turned the lights down. They did everything they could to try to make us as comfortable as possible.”
Because they were one of the first residents of the new shelter, they had to set up their cots, which turned into fits of laughter. “We didn’t know we had to lock the cots,” Sheila says. “It was a funny moment in the midst of a disaster.”
Their future is uncertain, but they know they are lucky to be together as a family under one roof, with great people to take care of them. “We are very appreciative of the Red Cross help,” both sisters say.
Photo and story submitted by Barbara Behling, Regional Community Development Officer
Serving the counties of Green Lake, Florence, Marinette, Marquette,
Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago and Dickinson, M