I never thought I would have to write something like this, and asking for help is incredibly difficult for me.

Our home recently flooded, because of an issue with a pipe break that caused a flood in home, and led to a the sewer drain in our basement to back up,  and in a matter of hours, we lost an overwhelming amount of what we had spent years building.

Our basement wasn’t just being used for personal storage. Because we own Alien Records, we were also storing a significant amount of inventory for the store there. Since our store is small we have to keep the bulk of our back stock at our home.

We estimate that over $18,000 worth of store inventory was destroyed in the flooding.

Records and other product that we had already purchased and invested in were ruined by the water. For a small independent business, that inventory represents far more than merchandise it represents future sales, operating expenses, rent, bills, and our ability to continue running the business.

But the loss didn’t stop with the store.

The flooding also ruined a significant amount of our furniture, clothing, personal belongings, and our personal record collection. So many things we’ve collected and accumulated throughout our lives were damaged or completely destroyed. Thankfully our cats were okay but so much on the main level and everything in the basement of our house is at a loss.

Some of those things can eventually be replaced. Others can’t. There were many things I was given before my grandparents passed that are ruined.

Walking through everything afterward and realizing how much was gone was heartbreaking, and I still feel like I’m in some sort of twilight zone. I keep wanting to go and carry on but it’s just not possible right now my mind still can’t wrap around it. We’ve had numerous repairs done with an already exceeding credit limit to get things fixed so our home is livable while we wait for a claim that could take who knows how long. The bills and expenses are piling up beyond what we can handle at this point with out our accounts becoming delinquent and overdraft is closer and closer. 

We’ve poured an enormous amount of our lives into Alien Records. What started as a love of music became a real storefront in Over-the-Rhine and, eventually, something much bigger than we ever expected. We’ve tried to create a place where people can discover music, meet one another, dance, attend events and feel completely comfortable being themselves especially members of Cincinnati’s LGBTQ+ community.

Behind the scenes, though, keeping a small independent business alive is incredibly difficult. We’ve continued putting everything we can back into the store because we believe in what we’re building.

Losing roughly $18,000 in inventory overnight along with most of our possession’s clothes furniture and essentials is something we simply aren’t in a position to absorb on our own especially while simultaneously dealing with the damage and personal losses in our home this flood was in part sewer related so the majority of things  were contaminated.

That’s why we’re asking our community for help.

Funds raised will go toward replacing the inventory that was destroyed, cleaning up and repairing the damage from the flooding, replacing essential household items, securing a stable place to stay while repair and clean up are happening for us and our cats (if we could just live at the store we would), helping us stay financially stable while we work through the process of getting back to whatever normal looks like now, I feel an immense amount of guilt even asking the community for help. We work 7 days a week to stay afloat and with this we can’t be in two places at once. I’m devastated not knowing where to begin to pick up the pieces and keep everything together.

We’re not expecting anyone to replace everything we’ve lost. We’re simply hoping to recover enough to get back on our feet and keep moving forward. With our insurance claim in the works we still need clothes food a temporary place to stay and a temporary place to keep our cats we will have to replace our furniture clothes appliances groceries all of our inventory while simultaneously doing whatever construction and cleanup to repair our home. Our product that was lost being stored in our basement there we were depending on to get through the coming month to survive. Sometimes we have to live week to week with the way things are right now in the world and we try our best to always give back as much as we can so we’re hoping that this reaches the right people. If we had any other avenue I wouldn’t be here doing this. Our credit cards are going to be close to maxing trying to get everything together while we try and process our home insurance and we’re already up to our neck in just the bills alone to keep everything in order without a devestating blow like this.

If you’ve ever walked through the doors of Alien Records, bought something from us, danced at one of our events, shared our posts, told a friend about the store, or simply believe in supporting independent LGBTQ+ owned businesses and community spaces, anything you can contribute right now would mean more than I can adequately put into words.

Even a small donation adds up. If donating isn’t possible, sharing this fundraiser with others would be an enormous help. We love you and we hope to be back on top as soon as we can.

It’s incredibly humbling and humiliating in a way to have to ask our community to show up for us after you already support us in so many ways.

We lost a lot in this flood. Partially even our sanity

We’re just trying not to lose Alien Records, too. Besides each other and our boys its seemingly all we have left

Thank you for helping us rebuild.

With love

Aaron & Tim