Hello, my name is Jessica and my family has had an awful start to 2023. On February 6th, my parents, Roseann and Dennis, were having breakfast when they heard a crash that sounded like icicles falling off a roof, only 10x louder. They went to check and saw part of a tree in their living room. The tree had crashed through the AC wall unit and the adjacent sliding glass door, sending glass particles throughout the entire 1st floor, and damaging furniture, personal belongings, and the overall structure of the main exterior and interior walls. Since the tree was rather large, some branches made their way to the upstairs bedroom, roof, and another neighbor's roof and bedroom window. More shattered glass from a completely demolished sliding glass window, and holes in the ceilings exposing the roof. All windows, walls, and exposed roofs, have since been boarded up and weatherproofed to avoid additional harm to the rest of the homes, as this whole issue gets legally and justly brought to terms.

After the tree fell, my parents were determined to get answers. Living in a townhouse complex, they had a feeling a lot of the responsibility would fall on them, and they were right. The neighbor whose 80 ft tree it was, claims it was an act of God, however, several people had a chance to see this tragedy firsthand and discovered the tree with no roots, which suggests the tree was unhealthy and possibly even dead. Since the tree fell past the owner's property line, she is denying responsibility for the damages it has caused, leaving my family with a heavy financial burden at this time. The insurance policy that they have for this townhouse in regards to the exterior of the home, is inadequate for the amount of damage this has caused. They have housing for the immediate future through their insurance, but after that, they will have nowhere to go if they cannot afford to repair their house, or find a new home and start fresh.

My parents are sweet people, but bad luck tends to find them. My father, a Navy veteran, was forced into early retirement after suffering a horrendous injury, falling off a telephone pole while working many years ago, preventing him from doing any kind of labored work again. Since he was still so young, he had to rely on his pension to support his family but knew that would not last forever. Trying to support a family of 5 when there is hardly any income is difficult, to say the least, however, they never made it obvious to my siblings and me. The way they've always taken care of us despite their hardships has been admirable, but now they need our help. My parents are very proud people, which is why this fundraiser has been created on their behalf, but they will accept any amount of help, with gratitude and grace.

Thank you for listening.