DENVER — A Colorado woman is stepping up to help migrant families get off the streets and into homes.
Lisa Wimberger said she was first moved to action when she saw how many people were living in encampments.
"I drove through a camp one day by accident and saw all of these children on the street — babies," she said. "The mom in me couldn't sleep that night."
Denver7 first spoke with Wimberger in December when she decided to take matters into her own hands and help people in need who were living under a bridge near Interstate 25 and Fox Street.
"I kept going back and bringing things to the family and it went from there and took over," she said.
Now, a month later, she has been able to place half of those people who were living under the bridge and move them into housing.
This happened after she started her own fundraiser through GoFundMe.
Hugo Alvarez and his family are among those she's been able to help.
"It was a major change," Alvarez said in Spanish. "From the street to this home — I'm very thankful."
In just six weeks, Wimberger's GoFundMe has raised more than $65,000 and helped dozens of families move into rentals.
"I have an LLC. I have multiple businesses preexisting to this," she said. "I’m just going out, finding any number of configurations — private landlords, property management companies, Airbnb hosts — that have slow seasons that are willing to rent at cost to cover their mortgage. I'm signing leases for short-term under my LLC with full transparency to landlords."
Wimberger said most of the units are shared among multiple families.
"I have this golden ratio where if I put just the right amount of working adults to children, it becomes manageable to maintain this," she said.
She said that is making it a win-win for everyone.
"I listened to the problem and found solutions. I am protecting the taxpayer by doing private funding. I am unburdening the city. I don’t think it should be shouldered by everyone else. On top of that, I'm helping landlords from going into foreclosure because I'm paying their mortgages," Wimberger added.
If you'd like to donate to Wimberger's fundraiser, click here.