Hi everyone. For those that don't know, this is my brother, Justin and his girlfriend, Hailey.

A summary of the tragic incident that happened to them and their home:

Justin and Hailey recently moved into an apartment with their two cats beside the Mississippi river. One night, the river overflowed and flooded their entire apartment complex while it rained. At about 3 AM, the water was already about belly button deep. Due to the flooding, the doors and windows of the apartment complex became challenging to open. Justin and Hailey quickly rescued their cats and evacuated the situation. Before evacuating, Justin had managed to save three of their neighbors by breaking down windows and doors. While Justin broke the windows to get their neighbors, he severely injured his forearm. The injury affected the nerves in his fingers, and he could not move them.

He had to undergo surgery last Thursday and is currently in recovery for about 12 weeks. In those 12 weeks, he will be unable to work. Justin and Hailey lost 93% of their belongings because of the flood and will heavily rely on the love and support of family and friends.

With love,

Ashley

Thank you so much for all the love and support. We are in complete disbelief at the number of people that reached out and helped, whether that be by helping us salvage our belongings, helping us clean our p[revious apartment, checking in, donating - everything. We feel so loved and wouldn't be where we are now if it weren't for all the support we have received so far. Our cats are safe; the three neighbors are safe, Hailey and I are safe, and my surgery went well - words cannot describe how grateful we are.

Long story short regarding our living situation: Logan University helped provide a hotel for us until Sunday, 07/31. We were able to lock in an apartment at our previous complex with a move-in date on 09/15 but miraculously settled with a sooner move-in date of 08/15. Currently, we're using some of the money raised to stay at a hotel that Hailey's friend from school set us up with at an affordable rate. Our next goals are moving our salvaged and donated items to our new place on the 15th, building back up from scratch, and having Hailey finish her trimester strong. Justin has a follow-up on 08/04 for his forearm, which we think will go well.

Hailey's mom, Gina, came up with the idea of creating an Amazon Wishlist to help us fill up our new home for those interested here. There are some items we can use now labeled 'high'. All of these items are being delivered to our friend's apartment, who is checking out for any packages addressed to us. A special shoutout to the Craig family for getting us a storage unit to keep our donations until we can get into our new apartment. At some point, we'll be purchasing these items, but help in this form would be extremely appreciated.

We've received to much help that I have faith we'll bounce back like this unforseen circumstance never even happened. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

With the most love,

Justin and Hailey