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School teachers step up to help residents of closing trailer park in Columbia

Nearly a month after residents at Sunset and Ed’s Mobile Home Park in Columbia were told they had six months to move out, many residents are still scrambling to figure out where they will go.

ABC 17 News reported that on March 30, residents received a letter saying the park was closing and a new hospital would be built on the land.

On Tuesday, teachers from New Haven Elementary stepped up to help those residents find options for the October 1 deadline.

The group handed out cookies and packets of information to residents to help them understand their rights and resources within the community to help them find a new home.

As the clock ticks closer to that move out deadline, residents like Eugene Schaffer said they’re becoming more and more desperate for a plan.

“I’m pretty stressed out about it because he can’t move his trailer and I got no place to go and no money saved up,” Schaffer said. “I don’t work, I’m on social security, disability, a fixed income.”

Other residents like Norris Wall said they’re fortunate to have other options, but he said he feels for those who don’t.

“I work though, you know what I mean, to get where I need to go,” Wall said. “I got an apartment lined up, but a lot of people don’t have that.”

Wall said the New Haven teachers have shown compassion that he’s grateful to see during such a tough time for this community.

“They’re going around, taking time helping the kids after school when they could be at home, and they’re here passing out flyers trying to help, trying to support the community, when the people who have the place don’t give no care about it,” he said.

The residents of the park don’t have to pay rent or utilities until the park closes. But some said their biggest worry is finding an affordable place in an area so their children won’t have to switch schools.

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