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Hurricane Harvey Heroes Step In to Save Precious Memento

Three Time Flooded and Traumatized Little Girl Gets Her Disney Princess Elsa Back

By Arlene Nisson LassinPublished 7 years ago 4 min read
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Then Four Year Old Maya Sacks in her old bedroom with Elsa mural painted by artist Janelle Cook on the right.

To most people, Elsa, the princess from the Disney movie Frozen, is just another memorable character in an animated movie.

For Maya Sacks, age 6, and for her mom, Julie, she represented hope for a future in the home they loved, and the return of normalcy to their lives.

Three Times Flooded Home in Three Years

Elsa was painted on Maya's bedroom wall by artist Janelle Cook just two months before disaster struck, just long enough for then four-year-old Maya to get really attached to having Elsa in her bedroom each night.

In 2015, the Sacks family of five including father Steve, Mom, Julie, sons Ryan and Jacob, and daughter Maya, were first displaced when a flood on Memorial Day ruined their family home in Houston. Since that time, their family home has been flooded twice more; in 2016, and just recently with Hurricane Harvey.

Red Tape and Government Bureaucracy

The family has moved three different times to three different rental homes since they were first displaced in 2015, and have not yet been able to move back into their old home. They have been mired in red tape and long delays in waiting for over two years for a federally funded elevation grant to lift their home above the flood plane in their neighborhood. Once they do that, they plan to renovate it to restore it to its full glory. Needless to say, the trauma of three flood events in three years was not the childhood they had envisioned for their brood. (Ironically, they live within the city and are not coastal or near an ocean, river, or lake.)

Elsa, the Disney Princess, Survived All Three Floods

Julie and Maya visited their old homestead from time to time to look at Elsa, a formidable life-sized painted mural on the wall in Maya's bedroom. One glance at the wall made them feel better. Each check on Elsa gave both Maya and her mom hope for the future, included with the wish that Maya would one day sleep in her old bedroom with her special Elsa on her wall.

Even with walls and sheetrock removed all around the mural, Elsa stayed intact through the first two floods. Both times, they remediated by removing everything wet, including all the sheetrock up to a certain height, and treating everything remaining with sanitizers to prevent mold.

And then, Hurricane Harvey paid a visit. If the Sacks home was already destroyed from the previous floods, this third flood in three years was the worst, giving them almost 6 feet of water inside the empty house.

As Julie and her husband Steve prepared to remediate a third time, Julie made sure that every inch of sheetrock was removed from the home before they took down the very last piece of the sheetrock with Elsa painted on it. Then Julie went outside and had a good cry, knowing Maya would not have her Elsa to look forward to in her old bedroom. They were beyond weary and seriously thinking about giving up on the old home that they have been displaced from for so long.

Angels Arrive

Enter family friend and angel, Staci Stalarow, who dabbles in art. When she heard that Elsa had to come down along with that last bit of wet sheetrock, Staci came up with a quick plan. She took an box cutter knife and carefully cut the entire Elsa figure out of the sheetrock and then rolled her up. Next she gently laid her outside to dry flat so there would be no breakage.

Miraculously, Elsa stayed intact. Staci brought the mural home and cleaned her up a bit, and then went looking for a canvas big enough to hold the figure.

This is Elsa currently...

Awaiting Canvas Mounting

Elsa

When pre-fabricated canvas was not available in that large size, someone mentioned that a Houston art shop was helping with flood restorations. Staci called and spoke to manager Daniel Elliott of Jerry's Artarama, who after hearing the story, decided to hand-stretch a custom made canvas to fit Elsa at no charge.

A Generous Store Manager Trying to Make a Little Girl Happy...

Daniel Elliott, store manager of Jerry's Artarama in Houston, donated all materials.

After Elsa is transferred to canvas by Staci, with the free materials she was gifted as well to do that job, Daniel also offered free framing when it is complete. He even personally delivered the giant canvas to Staci when she couldn't fit it in her car.

There are all kinds of stories about kind things being done for survivors of this horrific weather event, but due to these two special people, three times flooded Maya will have her Elsa back, even if the family decides to give up on their old homestead. (They are still undecided.)

With Elsa able to hang around on canvas, and ready in hang in a new room, for little Maya, it is sure to be home sweet home.

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About the Creator

Arlene Nisson Lassin

A longtime writer, journalist, and Blogger, Arlene lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and family. Visit her Hot Flashes Blog (hot topics with a wink and a nod to that time in life!) at www.arlenelassin.com

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