Dorli Rainey applauds school children at foreclosure blockade

On Thursday 16 May 2013, Dorli Rainey participated in a foreclosure blockade organized by an offshoot of the Occupy movement in an effort to save the home of a man, Jeremy Griffin, who has found work and is now able to pay his mortgage.

JEREMY GRIFFIN Outside of his house with his dog Daisy.

Shortly before midnight last night, 86-year-old activist Dorli Rainey—yes, the Dorli Rainey whose Maalox-covered pepper-sprayed face became an icon of the Occupy movement—got a text message that sheriff deputies were about to evict ironworker Jeremy Griffin from his foreclosed South Park home. So she immediately jumped in a cab and headed down to Griffin’s house to put her body on the line.

Of course she did.

Twelve hours later, the sheriffs had yet to arrive, but a couple dozen fellow activists did, transforming the lawn and sidewalk in front of Griffin’s home into a kinda Occupy Seattle reunion. This is the first “eviction blockade” to be staged by SAFE (Standing Against Eviction & Foreclosure), an activist organization that grew out of Occupy Seattle, focused on helping homeowners fight back against the banks through pragmatic public protests.  [read more at: thestranger.com]

Outside a foreclosure blockade in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood, 85-year-old activist Dorli Rainey applauds spontaneous chanting from supportive Concord Elementary schoolchildren.

http://safeinseattle.org/ has gathered several videos documenting one man’s plight to save his home.  Jeremy Griffin, after losing his job got behind on his mortgage.  But, as the TheSouthParkNews.com reports:

Then in 2012, the construction industry began to revive, and Jeremy got a job again as an ironworker on a bridge near his South Park home.

He told his bank, Wells Fargo, he could now pay his mortgage, but they weren’t interested. He even delivered to Wells Fargo’s Seattle headquarters $1200 rent checks.

On his first rent delivery, Wells Fargo threatened to call the police. On his second delivery, they opted to close the entire 47-story headquarters for the afternoon, rather than accept his money.