Aid Marketta and Her Daughter in Their Time of Need

Hello, my name is Marketta. My daughter and I have been through quite a bit in the last almost 2 years. I have never been the kind of person to ask for help; I am very much determined to do things on my own. However, it has become too much for me to handle.

In Feb 2023, we were in a car accident. Driving the speed limit, a drunk driver decided he could beat traffic, and we couldn't slow down in time and hit the back of his car. He drove off from the scene; however, he went around and came back to "check on us," I would assume, and then he took off again. He broke down, and the cops were able to apprehend him. We had to go through a few months of therapy for whiplash. We were very lucky that was all we walked away with. My van was totaled.

I ended up filing for divorce in Oct 2023. He stopped helping around the house, even with stuff that involved our child. The case was finished for the accident, and each of us ended up with a settlement. He moved from my home in March 2024. He dragged his feet on the divorce; his plan was to drain me because I was the one paying for the divorce. He drained me and has not paid me anything since he left in March to help with our daughter. I am the one paying $150 a week in the summer for her care, $104 a week during the school year, her glasses that were $230, clothes, food, etc.

In the beginning of Sept, I got a message from the school that my daughter was marked absent. I called and sent messages to him, no response. I told him to call me, or I was calling the cops. Seconds later, the cops called me. They were at his house with a search warrant. I cannot go into any detail as this is an open ongoing investigation. The next day, I filed a PFA against him to keep my daughter safe. My lawyer asked the judge for an emergency ex parte. Court kept getting continued, but finally, on Nov 18th, my divorce was final! I still have court dates coming up since child custody and the PFA are not final. At this point, I still owe my lawyer $3900.

I woke up yesterday morning (12/4) to a loud hissing noise. My water heater sprung a leak in the middle of the night and sprayed water in my closet for I don't know how many hours. I have filed a claim with my insurance. I have items in there that are damaged and I will never be able to replace. My childhood books from 1989 for my birthday, my daughter's childhood books, some of which she got from the NICU, my deceased daughter's footprints, family pictures, newspaper articles with my brother in them (also deceased). Insurance called me this morning and told me they will not cover the cost of the water heater, which I expected. They will not pay for a hotel room; they don't care that I have a 7-year-old at home with no running water. I have to wait on them to come look at the damage to see what they will replace structure-wise. Until then, I can't replace the water heater because there is probably floor damage since it is carpet. All my clothes are soaked as well; there were Christmas presents in there too.

I know this is just before the holidays, and I hate even asking. A dollar or five could make a huge impact on getting the money to help pay for the expenses to come and the credit cards I have maxed out due to no child support.