Community steps up to help KC teacher a year after flood damaged her home
BELTON, Mo. — A Kansas City teacher and mother of two is at wits end.
Her house flooded more than a year ago and she’s still waiting for the damage to be fully repaired. Now, her school community is pitching in to help get her and her children back in their home.
Rain, hail hit parts of Kansas City metro Wednesday morning
Parents, former students and others are rallying around long time teacher Tanya Moody. She and her family have been living in hotels since January of 2023 when their house was severely damaged by flooding.
“We were watching the Chiefs play in the playoff game and they were on their way to the Super Bowl and so I went home only to discover that there was water everywhere and our house had completely flooded,” she said. “So many areas of our home have flooded, and here we are, 16 months later, and we’re still living in a hotel trying to get the means to get our home repaired.”
Moody said the company she originally hired only made minimal repairs. She said there have been delays in getting insurance claims. That’s why she’s looking for a reputable company to fully fix the damage.
Her goal is to get back into her house before school starts in the fall.
When this happened, my daughter was a sophomore in high school and now she’s about to be a senior, and I do not want her senior year to be like this,” Moody said. “I want her to be able to be in our own space and have her friends over and do all the things that she needs to do to be successful and prepare her for college. Same thing with my son I would love nothing more for them to be able to go home, have home cooked meals.”
Margaritaville Hotel Kansas City celebrates development milestone
Moody is a kindergarten teacher at Border Star Montessori School. She’s worked in education for around 20 years.
“She’s an angel. We, trust her with our children every day,” Jason Harper said, whose child is in Moody’s class. “So many of us parents see her in the morning at the drop off line at school. She knows us. She knows our kids who are students. She knows their little brothers and sisters. And she’s just a radiant beam of light.”
When parents found out that Moody has been living in a hotel for more than a year due to the damage in her house, they created a GoFundMe to help her pay for repairs.
See the latest headlines in Kansas City and across Kansas, Missouri
“Just to find out that how long it’s been going on and all this time she’s been keeping it together for us, for our kids, and providing them with a great experience,” Harper said. “She’s made a difference in a lot of children’s lives and parents lives over the years. And it’s it’s like the least we could do to help her out in this situation.”
