I bought my home in sunny St. Petersburg, FL in 2016 with a history of zero floods. In the last 13 months, my home has flooded twice from hurricanes. Most recently, Hurricane Helene has caused complete devastation to my community and beyond.

This place that was filled with such love and beautiful memories with my 2.5-year-old son, Kai, took on 3’ of water. Last week, I measured his height of 36” and eerily this week, I measured a water line of almost the same. Some of our items were salvaged or still in storage, but my guess is 90% of our belongings were destroyed.

I am so thankful to my family, friends, and USF colleagues who have shown up in so many ways for Kai and I. As a mother, I mourn the loss of the home my son came home from the hospital to, while at the same time, I am so thankful he is safe and being so well taken care of by my circle.

I quickly found a rental property and we are starting new. Your love and support is appreciated tremendously.