Save the "Mint Cookie", our house
Donation protected
My name is Tricia.
I have a husband who I love more than anything in the world. And what my husband has been through in recent years has shredded all of his hopes and dreams for the future.
We need you to help us keep our home, the house we bought together and that sustained us through a very dark, difficult time.
Let me tell you a story.
In 2009, my partner, Kurt and I talked about buying a house for the two of us to share. At that point, we'd been together for eight years and the 2 bedroom condo we were renting was far too small to house the two of us plus his visiting children.
We searched for a house that would fit all of our needs, until we found something perfect. It was a craftsman house built around 1906. It had plenty of room for all the things we wanted to do. We planned to throw parties and offer space to visiting guests, when we weren’t hosting the kids.
We loved this house so much we named it before we put down our earnest money. It has a green roof and brown paint, so we called it The Mint Cookie.
Fortune smiled on us and we were able to buy this house. And we hosted parties, and out of town guests, and the Mint Cookie was considered “tasty” by all.
And then, in 2010 the troubles started.
It was a chilly early February morning. The FBI showed up on our doorstep at 6am. They had weapons drawn and insisting upon "clearing the house". They pulled a half-dressed Kurt out of the door to shiver in bare feet on the porch. I was pulled out of my bed, so I grabbed a coat to cover my thin nightclothes and curled up on the couch. The next thing I know, the feds are storming the house.
They did not present a warrant until they had checked the entire house. They pulled up a chair to ask me a number of extremely personal questions about my computer use. As I had nothing to hide, I settled in for a very weird conversation with an FBI agent about what kinds of things I look at on the internet, and what kinds of things I had witnessed Kurt looking at on the internet. Anime? Hulu? LOLcats?
They pulled him into a separate room to "interview" (interrogate) him. He did not insist upon having a lawyer present. Hindsight is 20/20.
It turns out that he was part of a file-sharing adult website. Some of the information being shared by that website was illegal information.
They tossed the entire house. They took all of his computers. They took the computers I used for my embroidery work, all of my flash drives, and several other things. We were told that the items would be returned. They never were.
Weeks passed. He was charged. We hired an attorney. Months passed.
We got married. I told him that if he was going to be charged with something that could have him doing real time, we would need to be married so that I could handle his affairs in his absence.
Two weeks later he held me to his chest and wept while he said that he really wanted to be married to me. So that’s our romantic engagement story: I told him we needed to get married, in my nightgown and coat, curled up on the couch while the FBI looted our house.
We made arrangements the ceremony. Feeling the need to handle things quickly (not knowing when the shackles would come down,) we married in secret on April 1st in 2010, because we didn’t have time to put together a party in such a short time. He didn’t want to have to triage our friends and family, so we kept it to my parents, his children, and my brothers. He was terrified to come out to our friends and loved ones.
Eventually, I persuaded him that we should throw a reception and renew our vows. We threw a party in our beloved Mint Cookie the following February so our friends could celebrate with us. Little did they know that it was also a kind of "farewell" party for Kurt. We had a mint chocolate mousse cake in keeping with the theme of the house. We kept the ceremony brief and heartfelt, with humor and Shakespeare and prayer.
In May 2010, he had to go to court and take the plea deal. His choices were to try to go to court and if he lost he could face a minimum of 20 years, or take the plea, and do 5 years in a minimum security facility. In it, he was forced to say in court that his involvement was more nefarious than it was in reality. They didn’t let me kiss him goodbye.
He didn't even get to see his son graduate from high school.
He was sent to a medium security federal facility in Talladega, AL, despite the fact that he was a "low security" prisoner. Later he was moved even farther away to a low-security federal facility in Louisiana. Visiting him was expensive in many ways, but I worked hard to make sure that I could make that human connection as often as possible.
In the mean time, I had a house that I couldn't afford on my own. I make less than half of what Kurt made before he was incarcerated, so 2/3 of our income was gone, just like that. In addition to the house, I also had my husband's car to deal with. I was making two car payments, two insurance payments, plus utilities and mortgage payments.
I cycled through a number of roommates during this time. I also started my own business, on top of working 40+ hours per week at my full-time job.
Unfortunately, of the five tenants I have taken on, only two of them consistently paid the rent. There are three tenants who still owe me money. One left the country. Another only recently secured stable employment and is trying very hard to pay me back, a little at a time.
I was able to get rid of both vehicles, trading them in toward a single vehicle, but not before his car ate his savings.
There was also a long stretch last year when I didn't have roommates at all. I fell far behind on the mortgage payments.
Now, Kurt’s sentence is almost up. He’s going to be released in mid-September. But the troubles aren’t over for us yet.
Our house is in foreclosure. The house I’d hoped to welcome him back to, after all this time.
We need your help.
If I can manage to raise the "back rent" and pay it before September 2nd we can keep the house. If not, we have to move, and we lose everything we've invested in the house since 2009.
We are investigating several options, including bankruptcy. My husband is currently in a halfway house (rehabilitation facility) 1 ½ hours away, and actively seeking employment. But since he’s technically still incarcerated, he's not working so a Chapter 13 wage-earner's plan won't help us. Chapter 7 will get us free of the loan, but we lose the house.
If we can meet our goal in time, all of you will have helped us save our home. He will have a home to return to after his ordeal in federal prison.
If we cannot meet our goal, your donations can go toward closing costs or down payment for switching the mortgage, or the "hail mary" play of perhaps purchasing the house on the courthouse steps at the last second.
If we cannot get that far, any funds raised will be used toward relocation fees.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our troubles. I wish that I could have held on longer, and that we could have come up with better solutions.
Anything that you can offer us gives us hope, and that is something in short supply.
I have a husband who I love more than anything in the world. And what my husband has been through in recent years has shredded all of his hopes and dreams for the future.
We need you to help us keep our home, the house we bought together and that sustained us through a very dark, difficult time.
Let me tell you a story.
In 2009, my partner, Kurt and I talked about buying a house for the two of us to share. At that point, we'd been together for eight years and the 2 bedroom condo we were renting was far too small to house the two of us plus his visiting children.
We searched for a house that would fit all of our needs, until we found something perfect. It was a craftsman house built around 1906. It had plenty of room for all the things we wanted to do. We planned to throw parties and offer space to visiting guests, when we weren’t hosting the kids.
We loved this house so much we named it before we put down our earnest money. It has a green roof and brown paint, so we called it The Mint Cookie.
Fortune smiled on us and we were able to buy this house. And we hosted parties, and out of town guests, and the Mint Cookie was considered “tasty” by all.
And then, in 2010 the troubles started.
It was a chilly early February morning. The FBI showed up on our doorstep at 6am. They had weapons drawn and insisting upon "clearing the house". They pulled a half-dressed Kurt out of the door to shiver in bare feet on the porch. I was pulled out of my bed, so I grabbed a coat to cover my thin nightclothes and curled up on the couch. The next thing I know, the feds are storming the house.
They did not present a warrant until they had checked the entire house. They pulled up a chair to ask me a number of extremely personal questions about my computer use. As I had nothing to hide, I settled in for a very weird conversation with an FBI agent about what kinds of things I look at on the internet, and what kinds of things I had witnessed Kurt looking at on the internet. Anime? Hulu? LOLcats?
They pulled him into a separate room to "interview" (interrogate) him. He did not insist upon having a lawyer present. Hindsight is 20/20.
It turns out that he was part of a file-sharing adult website. Some of the information being shared by that website was illegal information.
They tossed the entire house. They took all of his computers. They took the computers I used for my embroidery work, all of my flash drives, and several other things. We were told that the items would be returned. They never were.
Weeks passed. He was charged. We hired an attorney. Months passed.
We got married. I told him that if he was going to be charged with something that could have him doing real time, we would need to be married so that I could handle his affairs in his absence.
Two weeks later he held me to his chest and wept while he said that he really wanted to be married to me. So that’s our romantic engagement story: I told him we needed to get married, in my nightgown and coat, curled up on the couch while the FBI looted our house.
We made arrangements the ceremony. Feeling the need to handle things quickly (not knowing when the shackles would come down,) we married in secret on April 1st in 2010, because we didn’t have time to put together a party in such a short time. He didn’t want to have to triage our friends and family, so we kept it to my parents, his children, and my brothers. He was terrified to come out to our friends and loved ones.
Eventually, I persuaded him that we should throw a reception and renew our vows. We threw a party in our beloved Mint Cookie the following February so our friends could celebrate with us. Little did they know that it was also a kind of "farewell" party for Kurt. We had a mint chocolate mousse cake in keeping with the theme of the house. We kept the ceremony brief and heartfelt, with humor and Shakespeare and prayer.
In May 2010, he had to go to court and take the plea deal. His choices were to try to go to court and if he lost he could face a minimum of 20 years, or take the plea, and do 5 years in a minimum security facility. In it, he was forced to say in court that his involvement was more nefarious than it was in reality. They didn’t let me kiss him goodbye.
He didn't even get to see his son graduate from high school.
He was sent to a medium security federal facility in Talladega, AL, despite the fact that he was a "low security" prisoner. Later he was moved even farther away to a low-security federal facility in Louisiana. Visiting him was expensive in many ways, but I worked hard to make sure that I could make that human connection as often as possible.
In the mean time, I had a house that I couldn't afford on my own. I make less than half of what Kurt made before he was incarcerated, so 2/3 of our income was gone, just like that. In addition to the house, I also had my husband's car to deal with. I was making two car payments, two insurance payments, plus utilities and mortgage payments.
I cycled through a number of roommates during this time. I also started my own business, on top of working 40+ hours per week at my full-time job.
Unfortunately, of the five tenants I have taken on, only two of them consistently paid the rent. There are three tenants who still owe me money. One left the country. Another only recently secured stable employment and is trying very hard to pay me back, a little at a time.
I was able to get rid of both vehicles, trading them in toward a single vehicle, but not before his car ate his savings.
There was also a long stretch last year when I didn't have roommates at all. I fell far behind on the mortgage payments.
Now, Kurt’s sentence is almost up. He’s going to be released in mid-September. But the troubles aren’t over for us yet.
Our house is in foreclosure. The house I’d hoped to welcome him back to, after all this time.
We need your help.
If I can manage to raise the "back rent" and pay it before September 2nd we can keep the house. If not, we have to move, and we lose everything we've invested in the house since 2009.
We are investigating several options, including bankruptcy. My husband is currently in a halfway house (rehabilitation facility) 1 ½ hours away, and actively seeking employment. But since he’s technically still incarcerated, he's not working so a Chapter 13 wage-earner's plan won't help us. Chapter 7 will get us free of the loan, but we lose the house.
If we can meet our goal in time, all of you will have helped us save our home. He will have a home to return to after his ordeal in federal prison.
If we cannot meet our goal, your donations can go toward closing costs or down payment for switching the mortgage, or the "hail mary" play of perhaps purchasing the house on the courthouse steps at the last second.
If we cannot get that far, any funds raised will be used toward relocation fees.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our troubles. I wish that I could have held on longer, and that we could have come up with better solutions.
Anything that you can offer us gives us hope, and that is something in short supply.
Organizer
Patricia Overkamp
Organizer
Overland, MO
