We Rise By Lifting Others

Hi everybody. My name is Brooke and Amanda is my best friend. Amanda is smart, strong, resourceful and fiercely independent. Amanda is a single-mom to a brilliant & compassionate  special needs child.  Over the past several years, I've been able to bear witness to Amanda working so hard to ensure she could provide for herself and her son, Felix. Amanda is one of those people who always makes time to listen, support & help people just because of who she is as a person. I'm setting up this fundraiser as a way for us to show her the same compassion and generosity, by helping her through some unfortunate events that have left her physically, mentally, emotionally & financially exhausted. Please take a few minutes to read her story, and consider making a donation to help her in this time of need.

 

Amanda lives in West Fargo, ND. After putting herself through college, working a full-time job, Amanda was able to purchase her first home in July of 2017. Shortly after moving in, she learned the house was in need of significant foundation repairs, which were a direct result of the geography where her home was built. The lake clay was shifting and causing her home to shift which caused damage to the walls (splitting drywall), separating floors from walls and cracking the foundation. Due to this type of repair being considered “settling,” the repairs were not covered by insurance. Amanda followed the remediation guidance of a structural engineer and had a foam jacking installed & proceeded to complete all other repairs herself, which depleted her savings.

 

Fast forward to 2021, the house appears to be sinking. The walls were separating at the ceiling and drywall began splitting and cracking. The house was clearly sinking. Amanda began researching what was happening to her home. She spoke to geologists, to geo-technical engineers, to engineers within the city, the emergency management team, insurance agents, inspectors and neighbors. It turns out, her home was built in an area of West Fargo, where the Agassiz glacier used to be. The glacier left layers of lake clay and fluidized sand, which shift during periods of drought followed by heavy rains. Did I mention Amanda lives in West Fargo and droughts followed by lots of rain / snowmelt is common!? Long story short, Amanda’s house is sinking (but it's not a sinkhole.) The recommended remediation was to install more piers. They had to tear up the flooring & install piers that run 80-100’ into the ground to ensure they could hit bedrock. After additional piers were installed, and Amanda worked tirelessly for months in an attempt to repair & sell the house, and the house started sinking yet again. 

At this point, she’s facing additional repairs just to ensure the safety of herself & her 11 year old son, but trying now to determine the best course of action to get help repairing the house (if it can be repaired) and / or potentially finding another suitable place for her little family. At this time, we are awaiting a call from a geotechnical firm who specializes in the West Fargo area. Just the consultation costs $200/hour, with an estimated need to drill running a couple thousand dollars. It’s expected that additional piers may need to be installed, to stabilize the house (which can run between $25-75k, depending on how many piers are needed) and that doesn’t even touch the busted up floors, walls, patching, painting & interior repairs needed. A structural engineer will also need to come out to assess the home, and we don’t know what those costs might be. Please consider helping out if you’re able, and if not, please take a moment to share and help this fundraiser gain traction. It’s been said, we rise by lifting others, so please give what you can to help us lift Amanda & Felix from this sinking house! Your support is greatly appreciated!