For Bridgette Wilder, moving into The Community Within the Corridor apartments marked a new beginning in a life she's worked hard to improve.
"It was a wonderful experience because the apartments are really beautiful," said Wilder. "The first day was excellent. It was joyful for my children."
On Saturday, about three and a half months after moving in, she and her children were rushed out within an hour, notified by the Milwaukee Health Department about detection of a chemical health hazard.
"I was in a state of shock," said Wilder.
She's now living in a hotel with her kids, uncertain if and when she can return to her new home.
"It's a place of fear. Doubt. No information. And it is causing possible stagnation when it comes to opportunities I could moving in. Because when you're unsettled in an environment of housing, it impacts everything," said Wilder.
Getting to a place in her life when she could move into a new apartment with new amenities — the complex is a redevelopment of an old Briggs and Stratton building — took overcoming a lot.
Wilder said she was widowed at 35 with nine kids, including a daughter who would die the year after her husband. She then lost her mother, who was 62, to cancer.
Drawing on her own experience with loss, Wilder said she decided she could heal others who are also struggling. While raising her children, she got a degree in dietetics from Mount Mary University, and she's now studying for a master's to become a licensed therapist.
"I know how to overcome. Number one because I have a strong faith and relationship with God," said Wilder. "That does not mean this [displacement] is not impacting my life because I am resilient. Resilient is just a character trait I was given, because of the hands that I've been dealt."
For one, Wilder said, the evacuation and new task of taking care of her family from a hotel have put her goals in jeopardy. She said stress affected a recent midterm test. And, she said, she's also going to be missing class because of her sudden loss of housing.
Wilder's son, she said, just got accepted to Marquette High School. They thought he'd have to miss class this week, but they managed to get him on a city bus to make it.
"My child wants to go to school. Wants to go to school. 4-point student. Beggin me, 'Mom, can I please go to school?" said Wilder.
So far, Wilder said, the city has provided the room and cash gift cards worth $400. But it won't go far enough, she said. She wants to know why she should have to lose income due to a sudden loss of housing while spending her own money for something out of her control.
"I'm paying for my housing. I gave you my rent in a timely manner. Why am I evacuated, and furthermore, why was I placed in a condition that even caused this to be the outcome," she said.
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