Help Rhonda recover from accident and lost home

On October 22nd Rhonda suffered a traumatic accident and required surgery to repair her shattered pelvis and torn hip ligaments. She has been in Missoula St. Pat’s hospital for 13 days. The accident happened while on a horse ride with two close lady friends and a 12-year girl whom they often invite along and teach riding skills.

Rhonda’s three friends helped save her life by lifting her onto her horse and helping her stay on it for an excruciating 6 mile ride out of the forest to a waiting ambulance and Life flight helicopter. Rhonda elected for ambulance and another painful 45-mile dirt road trip due to her concerns on Life flight costs. After Rhonda is discharged from the hospital she will recover at home with nursing assistance for weeks before she can return to work at Hamilton Farm Bureau Insurance where she has exceptional and supportive boss and coworkers.

Rhonda is a very kind and selfless person who has worked hard for her entire life in the bitterroot area. She has loved and sacrificed for her children and grandchildren. She has been in the Bitterroot Mountettes for 28 years where she has an adventurous group of kindred spirits. Many in the community know Rhonda from Farm Bureau Insurance or from her many years at Terry Christian State Farm insurance in Hamilton. Most don’t know that she also did hard manual work for many years of early motherhood as a diner cook/waitress and home builder in Darby and Hamilton. She even spent a couple years working at the old Missoula sawmill on the green chain.

At 66 yrs old Rhonda is still strong and we are all hopeful that she will be able to return to normal work, life and hobbies and have time with her grandchildren. Unfortunately, as she faces the complex medical bills they will be on top of another tragic situation that recently left Rhonda in badly compromised financial situation. Her second tragedy has been held closely by family until now but due to these accident bills it is included as an important factor in Rhonda's health and survival.

Rhonda recently was evicted from her home and lost all of the equity she earned and invested in her property. For many years Rhonda’s home and acreage were the place for family holidays, birthdays, dinners, et. She deeply loves her grandkids and always had loads of toys, a trampoline, ponies, atvs etc. for them at her house since they spent lots of time with there. Rhonda transferred her home and property to a family member as part of a family plan to live together on her property by transferring the deed and getting a construction loan allowing for a mother-in-law apartment.

The apartment was built on the property and she lived there for a short time and cared for grandchildren as she had done for 10+ years. Shockingly in 2021 Rhonda got an eviction notice to be gone in 30 days or police would remove her belongings. That same month the home and property went under contract and was then sold. During Covid times real estate prices had skyrocketed and Rhonda abruptly found herself trying to find a place to live in a difficult and expensive rental market and with none of her home equity and at retirement age. In the 3 years since the eviction and sale in 2021 the only compensation Rhonda ever received for her home and property was a small amount that would pay off what little she had remaining on her mortgage at that time. She had signed a form using that amount as she thought it was needed for a construction loan and later when she was evicted was told that form meant she sold her home and property in a straightforward real estate transaction even though it was for a fraction of 2018 values, much less the skyrocketed values of 2021.

We would like to raise $20,000 to use towards her medical bills, rent, and some of the fees for a lawyer that has filed a civil suit on her behalf

We love this lady. She is in a bad place with few options and she would never ask for herself. Please help, if possible.

This page is managed by Barry Twardoski, who is Rhonda's son. Any funds from this campaign will be placed into a bank account managed by Nancy McKinney. Nancy is Rhonda's sister and she will be the legal signer on the account for uses only to pay medical bills, medical supplies, rent or attorney fees.