We are the Blossers. Those that have had access to our lives over the last 5 years know that our 4th kid was injured by a medical test in 2020. We don't say a lot about it for their privacy and because our time is focused inward now, but we now know the physical and mental issues it created are permanent, and we've been rearranging things for that reality.

One of the rearrangements that a lot still don't know is that we moved to Wisconsin to get a more moderate climate so our kid could spend more time outside. It took several years to get that figured out because we have unicorn-level needs for a place and the economy is a tire fire, but at the start of this year we finally bought a viable place to at least get us up here and let us look around more for a better option.

That house ended up being right in the middle of Milwaukee's HiStOtIc RaInS this last weekend. The main airport got 7 inches, beating the previous record of 1.5 inches by a ridiculous amount.

It is estimated that our neighborhood got 14 inches.

Every house on our street had a flooded basement, as far as we know. Everyone in our house is alive and in one piece, but we have spent the week getting the water out, sorting through our stuff and throwing most of it away, and assessing damage. There are some wins, there are also a lot of losses. Our kid needs the rooms on the first floor of the house for their stuff, and our other kids live on the second floor, so Julie and I had most of our important things in the basement, including my office for work. Additionally, half our stuff was just down there in boxes from the move still, waiting for the planned move to the next place.

We've lost furniture, appliances, possessions, books, food, electronics, and memories. Some of it's replaceable, some isn't. Before we can even get to any of that though, we have to rebuild the basement itself. There are 8 of us living here now and we need that space for this place to work. We've had to tear out all the walls and basically start over with it.

We have not asked for funds throughout our disability journey because we have a decent income and other people need it more. Even in this case the costs here probably won't break us /today/. But we'd be spending the money we got from selling our last house that is earmarked for the required modifications to the next place, the one we hoped to find and move into in the next couple years, the one big enough for all of us and able to support our needs. If we lose those funds now we will not be able to get to that place any time soon. So we're finally listening to our friends and asking for monetary help.

We need funds to:

* Cover the equipment/etc. costs of the work we've already done to get the water out and remove the walls

* Remove the trash

* Hire someone to rebuild the basement (we are doing what we can to handle the tear out ourselves but normally almost all of our time is spent caring for our disabled kid or working)

* Replace needed supplies, furniture, appliances, computers, and other electronics

* etc.

If you are struggling to make rent and feed your family, please please skip this. Otherwise, if you believe, as we do, that those that have should help those that need, and you have, please help how you can. I don't have a great estimate yet of what amount we need but we'll make a start and see how it goes. If we somehow overestimate and end up with more than this need, any beyond will go to local charities doing the necessary work to help other people in this situation (Habitat and/or the local food banks).

Thanks for anything you can do, big or small.