O'Connors Basement Disaster
Donation protected
Imagine if the living space for your family of 7 was cut in half, if part of your home was destroyed, and if your insurance policy didn’t cover the cost to repair your home. And imagine if the process for repairing your home took three months just to get to the point where you could work on repairs.
As many of you know, in addition to John, Jen, Cole, Macy, Liam, and Quinn, Jen’s mother moved in with them last year due to health issues. On Christmas morning 2014, the O'Connor family woke up to an unexpected surprise, but not the kind of surprise that you anticipate dealing with on Christmas day! The bathroom in their basement was full of water and the source of the water was unknown. What started out looking like a small leak turned into a major disaster involving burst pipes, sewage, asbestos, mold, and an underground spring. As the leak turned into a flood, plumbers, drain specialists, and a restoration crew raced to find the source of the problem. A cascading series of events led to the total loss of their finished basement, which included living spaces, a bathroom, and bedrooms for two of their children. A steady stream of 50 gallons of water per hour has been running through an open trench in their basement ever since. As the days turned to weeks and then months, the crews, asbestos and mold mitigation teams, insurance adjusters, and various water experts were joined by city officials, engineers, water company leak inspectors, City sewer managers and many other "experts", none of whom could definitively identify the source of the water and occasional sewage as anything other than ground water and so the damage is excluded from their homeowners insurance. Several "Fix" options for this disaster were presented, but in the end they have decided to place an interior foundation drain as the most cost-effective approach. While that is good news, the bad news is their out of pocket expenses are well-beyond their reach.
John and Jen are facing over $50,000 of out of pocket costs just to place the water protection system and re-frame their basement. They are fortunate their homeowner’s policy will cover a portion of the damage caused to the interior of the home. We can all appreciate this is a devastating blow to their family, as it would be to mine and most families! This is not a life or death situation, but John & Jen have to make these repairs and the financial burden they will assume is daunting to say the least. John, Jen and their family are constantly helping others, donating time and money to causes and organizations throughout the year. They pay it forward daily. Now, as their friends, we can help them by doing something they wouldn’t ask us to…by helping to defray some of the costs associated with this personal disaster. I know they would do the same for me and my family in a heartbeat. If we can get 100 family members/friends to donate at least $100 each, that would go a long ways in helping their family with their out of pocket costs.
Please consider making a donation! They will be humbled and embarrassed by our combined gestures.
For those of you who want to know more detailed information regarding the disaster, Johnny has written a lot about it in his blog. http://lifesizemind.blogspot.com/
As many of you know, in addition to John, Jen, Cole, Macy, Liam, and Quinn, Jen’s mother moved in with them last year due to health issues. On Christmas morning 2014, the O'Connor family woke up to an unexpected surprise, but not the kind of surprise that you anticipate dealing with on Christmas day! The bathroom in their basement was full of water and the source of the water was unknown. What started out looking like a small leak turned into a major disaster involving burst pipes, sewage, asbestos, mold, and an underground spring. As the leak turned into a flood, plumbers, drain specialists, and a restoration crew raced to find the source of the problem. A cascading series of events led to the total loss of their finished basement, which included living spaces, a bathroom, and bedrooms for two of their children. A steady stream of 50 gallons of water per hour has been running through an open trench in their basement ever since. As the days turned to weeks and then months, the crews, asbestos and mold mitigation teams, insurance adjusters, and various water experts were joined by city officials, engineers, water company leak inspectors, City sewer managers and many other "experts", none of whom could definitively identify the source of the water and occasional sewage as anything other than ground water and so the damage is excluded from their homeowners insurance. Several "Fix" options for this disaster were presented, but in the end they have decided to place an interior foundation drain as the most cost-effective approach. While that is good news, the bad news is their out of pocket expenses are well-beyond their reach.
John and Jen are facing over $50,000 of out of pocket costs just to place the water protection system and re-frame their basement. They are fortunate their homeowner’s policy will cover a portion of the damage caused to the interior of the home. We can all appreciate this is a devastating blow to their family, as it would be to mine and most families! This is not a life or death situation, but John & Jen have to make these repairs and the financial burden they will assume is daunting to say the least. John, Jen and their family are constantly helping others, donating time and money to causes and organizations throughout the year. They pay it forward daily. Now, as their friends, we can help them by doing something they wouldn’t ask us to…by helping to defray some of the costs associated with this personal disaster. I know they would do the same for me and my family in a heartbeat. If we can get 100 family members/friends to donate at least $100 each, that would go a long ways in helping their family with their out of pocket costs.
Please consider making a donation! They will be humbled and embarrassed by our combined gestures.
For those of you who want to know more detailed information regarding the disaster, Johnny has written a lot about it in his blog. http://lifesizemind.blogspot.com/
Organizer and beneficiary
Kristin English
Organizer
Missoula, MT
John O'Connor
Beneficiary
