A 74-year-old woman evicted after missing months of rent is getting a helping hand from her neighbors after she sat outside in the cold for hours watching over her things.
Ella McDonald has lived at the Eban Village Apartment Homes over the last 11 years.
McDonald is on a fixed income. She used to pay $490 a month for rent and got along just fine. But at least six months ago, her rent went up to over $700.
Managers say that she owes over $4,600. They say she’s missed rent too many times, and court documents even show that the complex took McDonald to court to be evicted.
On Friday morning, McDonald was met by a constable at her door. Her things were removed, and she was evicted.
She sat for hours outside watching over her things in the cold. Paramedics even stopped by to make sure she was warm.
“They didn’t say anything,” McDonald said. “They just took my stuff out of my apartment. I can’t believe that our office would do such a dirty thing to a senior citizen.”
Now, form whatever opinions you want, but according to court records, the apartment did this eviction by the book.
However, neighbors and friends didn’t want to sit by and do nothing while life handed a bad hand to McDonald.
“It was just so ugly the way this was done,” Glinda Mixon-Russell said. Mixon-Russell is McDonald’s hairdresser and found her outside her apartment earlier today when she stopped by to pick her up for an appointment.
“She was just in a rage, crying, and I had never seen her like that before,” Mixon-Russell said.
Mixon-Russell started talking with other neighbors about lending a helping hand.
By the end of the day, a GoFundMe was started to help McDonald move into a new apartment. An area pastor even loaned out his garage so that McDonald could store her things inside.
For now, Mixon-Russell said McDonald will stay with her. But, she added that she’ll help her find a new home.
When WFAA spoke to McDonald, she had one simple wish.
“I just want someone to do something because this isn’t right,” she said.
Thankfully, many people today did do something. If you'd like to help McDonald out, you can visit her GoFundMe here.