Siding Co. Helps Golden Trailer Park Residents With Hail Damage

GOLDEN, CO -- A threat of Jan. 1 eviction for residents of a Golden-area mobile home park turned into a Christmas miracle when contractors arrived to "give back" by fixing extensive hail damage to siding and windows from a severe May hailstorm. Management reportedly came down hard on residents of Mountainside Estates trailer park in November, threatening them with eviction if they didn't repair hail damage.

But when co-owners Mario Medina and Jim Ringwood of Siding Repairs, LLC heard about the dilemma on a Channel 7 report, they drove to the park Wednesday and started to offer to help.

“We're knocking on peoples' doors and we're asking them, ‘What's going on? How can we help?’” Medina said in the Channel 7 report.

The co-owners told the TV reporters business had been good this year, so they "wanted to pay it forward."

“If they tell us -- all of them -- ‘We don't have the money,’ then we're willing to go ahead and start at it. Buying what we need in materials and doing it ourselves,” Medina added.
“This is mission critical! They're looking at Jan. 1 evictions here,” Ringwood said.

The hailstorm caused more than $1 billion worth of damage through the area, including destroying the roof of the Colorado Mills mall in Lakewood, which only recently re-opened.

Residents of the trailer park were caught off-guard when they were given notices from the management saying if they didn't fix the damage to their units by Dec. 29, they would face eviction.

Channel 7 interviewed Patty Brown who said five windows on her house were broken as well as external damage on the outside of the home.

“I haven't been able to replace anything," Brown told reporters. She worried that if she were evicted from the trailer park, she would become homeless. The timeline for repairs means that many families were facing an unexpected financial crunch just as the holiday expenses kick in.

Brown called Medina and Ringwood "angels," according to Channel 7.

The report said residents had missed the deadline for federal natural disaster home repair loans and grants from FEMA.

Golden officials said residents of another Golden mobile home park got some help dealing with hail damage earlier this year. Unlike Mountainside Estates, Golden Terrace Village is within the city boundaries of Golden, City Manager Jason T. Slowinski said in an email.

"The City worked with the not-for-profit group Neighborhood Rehab Project (NRP) and contributed $15,000 toward their efforts to help make needed repairs in the Golden Terrace Village mobile home park," Slowinski said. "NRP coordinated volunteers and spent countless hours working in the park to make much-needed improvements. Following the hailstorm, the City of Golden also circulated information regarding the U.S. SBA’s loan assistance program so that homeowners in the mobile home park were aware of the program and could take advantage of it should it meet their needs. I believe the deadlines for that program have since expired. As recently as two weeks ago, I met with the Manager of Golden Terrace Village and was not made aware of this notice having been sent to the residents," he added.

Watch Denver 7's coverage of Mountainview Estates Christmas miracle here.

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