Hi, my name is Zack Burchell, and my wife, Hannah, and I are raising funds to rebuild our lives for our family.

Timeline of Disaster (09/11/2023):

4:52 pm: As I drove home from work, Hannah texted me a picture of the water rising in our window wells; a frog was stuck in it.

5:02 pm: Hannah texted me saying that water was starting to come in from the foundation, despite us having a perimeter water-proofing system.

5:03 pm: Hannah called back telling me the Shop-Vac could not keep up with the water pouring in.

5:10 pm: Hannah called again, alerting me that the water was now flowing through our windows. I felt helpless in my car as I listened to our daughter, Aubrey, sob uncontrollably, screaming that she was scared and didn't feel safe.

5:19 pm: Hannah called and told me that the water was almost knee-high. There was nothing else we could do.

In March of 2023, we completed refinishing our basement into a long-term living space for ourselves and our two young daughters, Aubrey (6) and Myka (22 months). We decided on the basement so that we could be available to my parents upstairs if they ever needed help. Unfortunately, my father passed away in December 2022, never seeing the final product and leaving my mother alone upstairs.

On September 11, 2023, our city of Leominster, MA, experienced a catastrophic flooding event. Over the course of six hours, over nine inches of rain fell; during that period, it took less than 20 minutes for us to lose everything we had just built downstairs.

The rain started at 4:40 pm. When I finally pulled into our driveway at 5:30 pm, my father-in-law was cutting the power to avoid serious electrical damage and potential fire. We went down into waist-deep water to try and salvage whatever was left up high, but there wasn't much. Thankfully, no one was injured and we all made it out safe; we also managed to save our two kittens (Ravioli and Calliope) and our two guinea pigs (Mocha and Mozzarella). We spent the night at Hannah's parents' house. In the morning, we returned to the house to find six feet of standing water in our living space. Everything we had worked for and built, all of our worldly possessions, were ruined. We had lost it all.

In the ensuing days, we, like so many other residents of Leominster, discovered that we did not have Flood Insurance and our provider would not be able to assist us. Thankfully, we have received a tremendous amount of support from our friends and family. However, given the severity of the destruction and the lack of resources, we humbly turn to the community-at-large for help in restoring a sense of normalcy for our family, especially our two baby girls.

Please consider any donation that you can afford. Every little bit will help us as we build back, quite literally, from the ground up. Top priority will be to ensure that the basement does not succumb to mold or other noxious elements. The structural integrity of the support beams also need to be inspected for us to safeguard the top floor. Our HVAC system was destroyed and will need to be replaced before the colder weather sets in. We will likely need to replace our hot water heater. All the drywall and insulation will need to be gutted. All funds will go to re-establishing a safe and secure living space for our family.