CROSBY Last year, 2007, was not a good year for Tami Bruggeman of Crosby, but thanks to Gallery Furniture and some generous friends in Crosby, 2008 looks like it will be much better.
Bruggemans story was recently profiled on Channel 2 television, and it has since been posted nationwide.
After Hurricane Rita destroyed the home that she and her husband Donald lived in, they temporarily moved into a travel trailer in Crosby in 2005.
But her husband died in August 2007 of a brain infection at 39 years old. His employer, Ray Lilley, had raised some money, $7300, to help them buy a new trailer home.
They gave the money, a deposit, to Chris McPherson, who said he would deliver a trailer home to Tami. Allegedly he was selling used FEMA trailers, but in fact he collected over $250,000 in deposits from buyers and never delivered any homes, according to Lilley and authorities.
He was arrested last month, and is currently in jail pending outcome of this case in federal court.
When Lilley and others realized that Tami would not get the trailer from McPherson, they pulled together more donations and got her another trailer home.
Then Lilley wrote to Gallery Furniture, and Georgia Ann Spears of Gallery screened the letter, one of several thousand received this year. She decided that Gallery Furniture could help Bruggeman, and they donated three rooms of furniture to Bruggeman to help furnish her new mobile home.
So, although she has had more than her share of bad luck in the last few years, now it seems Tami Bruggeman has a chance to start a new direction, with a new home and new furniture, and quite a few friends that wanted to help her.
