Hit-and-Run Recovery Fun(d)

It was a cold and bright Halloween aftenoon when a Black Riviera rolled through a stop sign and rammed into our Chevy Uplander and sped away. Michelle, our three kids, and Jack (the boy Michelle baby-sits) were in the vehicle. Silas's carseat was tipped to the side and he was crying, "My carseat is broken!" like the three-year-old that he is. Everyone was okay.

The Riviera kindly left behind their front license plate allowing us to track them down. At first we thought they had insurance and the people rejoiced. Then we discovered that the policy had expired in August and we were up the stream without a paddle. We are looking into options for borrowing a van until we can buy one (our Corolla can't hold our whole family so we're kind of stuck right now).

MN has a clause that requires our insurance to cover medical expenses in the case of uninsured drivers, but does not cover vehicle damage. So far we have no medical expenses.

As far as we can tell, we are out a van with no insurance help coming.

We are not pressing charges at this point. The legal fees would likely be more than the "reward" and the person who hit us likely doesn't have much money to go after if they can't afford basic car insurance.

So, where insurance and law-suits can't help us, our community can. Are you able to help?

Our needs:

1. A new van. Michelle has super-duper always wanted a Toyota Seinna so we're going to see if that's an option.
Timeline: 2-4 weeks.

2. New car seats? It wasn't a bad accident, but many people say you should toss your car seats if they've been in an accident.
Timeline: 2-4 weeks. 

We have a small emergency fund that we started a few months ago and we've been applying our "car payment" toward saving up for a new car since we paid off the Uplander this summer.

Things we're grateful for:

1. Everyone is safe, healthy, and processing everything well.

2. Our van was paid off.

3. Although we're not able to fully cover the purchase of a new vehicle we are in the most stable financial situation we've been in since 2013 as Nate has been doing ministry as his job for almost 6 years now.

4. Our neighbors/eye witnesses were amazing, encouraging, and supportive.

What you can do:

1. Give to this fund

2. Share this on social media and tell all your followers why you love us and why you are comfortable supporting us.

3. We are huge believers in the power of prayer and would love us some of that.