A recent break-in attempt at Dianne deMoissac’s St. Paul home had her feeling angry and unsettled, but when she was at that low point, several people pitched in with words of support and offers of help that lifted the single mom’s spirits.
“It’s amazing how much support you get,” she said. “There’s a lot of people that do complain about St. Paul (but) it’s a damn good place too.”
deMoissac and her family had come home from school parent-teacher interviews last Thursday, with her children first to enter the house.
“They came right back out, saying, ‘Mom, the TV’s gone.’”
deMoissac came inside to find the house in disarray, with her television stolen and an X-box taken as well. “I come in and all my precious stuff is on the floor. My TVs gone,” she said. Keepsakes and mementoes like her willow tree angel lay smashed on the floor. “Everything was thrown to the floor that was on top of my TV stand. It was just surreal.”
“I don’t have a lot of expensive things. It was just kind of random stuff,” she said, noting the person or people involved left her laptop and cash untouched.
She didn’t believe the culprits could have been gone very long, since they had left the door and the bathroom window open but the house hadn’t gotten very cold yet.
“My dog was OK. She wasn’t harmed,” she said. “My kids are OK. That’s all that really matters.”
But the experience left her feeling “violated” and anxious in her own home. Her oldest daughter, not quite 12, had just finished a babysitting course and deMoissac had been starting to leave her at home alone.
“I can’t do that now,” she said, adding that she has been working on reassuring her children that everything is OK.
The incident had her turning to social media to express her frustration and anger with the person or people involved and urging people to be careful and aware that it could happen to them.
“I was just kind of venting, because it was either that, or sit and cry. I got a bit more of a response than I expected,” she said.
David Morrison, owner of Five Star Pawn, was one of the people who offered deMoissac support in the wake of the break-in, replacing her stolen television and X-box.
“Dianne’s a really good person, a single mom,” he said, adding he knows from his past experience as a cop how a break-in can shake a person’s safety and comfort in their own home. “It’s just a first reaction – I’ve got some TVs and could put a smile on someone’s face that’s been devastated by something like that.”
Living in St. Paul, a small town, he says it’s heartening to see how people band together when bad things happen.
deMoissac agreed, saying she had no expectation people would be so generous. “It’s reassuring to know there’s good people here. You’re not alone here – there’s support everywhere.”
