My name is Kaiti and I’m a friend, colleague, and client of Elisse Miki. I’m reaching out to you because you are one of those too - if not all three, like me!

 

You may already be aware that the property where Elisse lives and conducts her business in South Langley, BC has suffered devastating flooding during our “atmospheric river” extreme rain event here on the South Coast on November 13-15 2021. You can view a video of it below.


Elisse's driveway, yard, fields, and paddocks had water rushing through them that was well over her knee-high boots. There was flooding in her barn, in her home, and over 6 feet of water in the crawlspace under her house, which extensively damaged her furnace (it now needs to be completely replaced). Elisse didn’t have power or water at her home for the past week, and is still without heat. She ran pumps continuously for days straight to attempt to pump the water out of the barn and surrounding area, but due to the fact that the water was being fed onto her property from an overflowing creek, the water was still rising in front of her eyes even while the pumps were running. At the time that I’m writing this, over a week after the flooding began, there is water still being pumped out of her home and property. Unfortunately, dealing with this disaster is far from over for Elisse.

 

Thankfully, with tremendous effort, Elisse and a few of her friends were able to make a safe, dry place for the 7 horses on her property and did not require evacuation. Being that several of the horses are senior horses aged 30+, this is a blessing, as anyone with senior horses knows it can be very difficult for them to move to a new place amidst natural disaster. She was able to save some of her hay/grain/bedding, but much of it was lost to water damage. Because Elisse is the main caretaker for these horses, her dedication to them has required her to remain living on the property - even without heat and water - throughout this ordeal. One of her aged horses requires many feedings daily because his lack of teeth requires a special mash in lieu of hay.

 

Elisse’s property management company and home insurance is able to help cover the cost of repairing the damage to her home, property, and some of her belongings. Where the big problem lies, and the reason I’ve created this Go Fund Me page for her, is her loss of income.

 

Elisse is a self employed Registered Massage Therapist for humans and Equine Therapist for horses. The majority of her work is conducted on her property, including her in-home massage therapy clinic. She is a one-woman show, running her own business and caring for her horses and the horses boarded with her. Elisse has already had to cancel at least 2 weeks worth of work in order to manage the flooding, and will need to continue to cancel work indefinitely until her home has been repaired and deemed safe. The contractors involved have informed Elisse that it could take quite some time to even begin this process, as she is on a very long waiting list, what with all of the flooding that has occurred in our region over the last week. During this time, Elisse has little to no income coming in, and a LOT of money going out. She is worried, for good reason, that she is going to lose her home.

 

Elisse has already spent her savings and cashed in the remainder of her RRSPs to cover the costs of dealing with this flood and to cover some of her lost income. She does not meet the requirements to receive government aid at this time because Langley is not part of the evacuation zone and they do not cover lost income. She is running out of options to keep her home and her business afloat and that’s where we come in.

 

The pinnacle of Elisse’s goals is to make a better life for horses by educating the owners and professionals in those horse’s lives. She realized that she could only help a finite number of horses by treating them one-to-one as an Equine Therapist. That is what drove her to create so many blog posts, articles, resources, online courses, and in-person courses for horse owners - because that way she can reach SO many other horses and help them to feel their best. So many of us and our animals have benefited from the countless hours Elisse has spent creating these resources. Not to mention the countless hours she has spent learning this information to pass on to us! There is a cost to access some of these courses, but the cost is not nearly enough to cover what Elisse has put into their creation. As I’m sure many of you have experienced, when you reach out to Elisse for help or advice, she goes above and beyond in her response - usually for no income at all. If you have ever been to Elisse’s farm for treatments or to learn, you know how special her team of horses are. They are such gentle, kind souls who were originally rescued too but now have a safe therapeutic space where they truly enjoy helping us humans to heal and to grow. They deserve our help too.

 

Elisse has been hesitant to accept financial aid and initially denied my attempts to set up this fundraiser because she realizes the breadth of this disaster for so many in our region. I am very relieved that she gave in to allow me to do it, because I know how many people support and care about Elisse, and I know that people want to help. That’s what we do when our friends are in need. I know that there are many people and associations asking for donations right now, but if you can spare anything to help someone who has helped us all at some point, I know Elisse is thankful for any help that comes her way. Elisse is extremely grateful already for the help that her friends and neighbours provided when she was in the thick of this disaster. She has told me all about the wonderful things that her friends have done for her over the past week and how thankful she is to have those people in her life. If you were like me and were unable to get to her to help in person, this is a way we can lend a hand to Elisse too.

 

Elisse needs help to cover the costs of her rent, utilities, supplies for the horses, food, repairs, and her lost income. I have set the goal of this fundraiser to $7,000 because that is the bare minimum that it costs Elisse per month to cover her expenses. This covers rent, utilities, basic feed and bedding - that’s it. If we meet this fundraising goal, you can still continue to donate. Some of the horses on Elisse’s property are boarded, but as anyone who boards horses can attest to, the time and expenses she puts into her boarded horses are not fully covered by the board payments.

 

If you would prefer to donate items, this is a list of some of the supplies that would really help Elisse and her horses.

 

Timothy pellets

Tim-Alf Cubes

Bedding Pellets

Bedding Shavings

 

Please contact me (Kaiti) if you want to donate items and we can arrange this.

Elisse is also actively searching for a new home for her and her horses - not just due to the issues with flooding but also because the property where they currently reside is set to be demolished by the owner within the next 1-2 years. If you know of any horse property rentals in the Langley area, please reach out! 

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that together, we can provide some relief for our friend Elisse.