<div>Dear all,
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Earlier this week, Vermont experienced historic flooding and the Bridgewater Mill that houses our workshops was profoundly affected. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>First, I want to say THANK YOU to all the community members, friends, family, and customers who have shared their concern and support. It has been inspirational for us and has given us the much-needed energy to keep moving forward. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Miranda and I have a lifelong commitment to making beautiful things by hand for others to use, and to teaching others to do the same. We have tried to keep our business going against all odds, struggling against economics and elements, because we believe deeply that in this age of mechanization, speed, and de-personalization, slowing down and expressing ourselves with our hands is vitally important. And, we have tried to provide a place for others to make a living doing so. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Miranda and I are now facing our third serious injury to our business (Tropical Storm Irene, Covid, and now this flood). We are getting older, and it is getting harder. But we have younger people, including our son and daughter-in-law and many others, who are very eager to carry this mission forward and keep this important work going. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This devastating flood affected us less than Tropical Storm Irene, thanks in part to the flood mitigation that we have made since. Nonetheless, there is extensive damage to our building, our kilns, and our furniture-making equipment. We expect insurance to cover the building fundamentals, but we believe we will need an additional $125,000 to recover. This includes $80,000 to repair machinery, $10-$15,000 to acquire a new sump pump to protect against future flooding, and $20-$25,000 in cleanup costs. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>We need to get back into production as quickly as possible. We had one of our best years ever last year, but the nature of handwork means operating at a razor-thin margin. For the last ten years, any profit has gone to paying down the debt that we incurred after Tropical Storm Irene.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>We are asking for your help, in any amount, to keep this business going, and keep alive the mission and skills that Miranda and I have been promoting for 50 years. Even the smallest donation is a vote of confidence in us. And the messages that you send, without any donation, are hugely helpful. We stand with an amazing community and all the other small businesses that are struggling at this time to recover. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support. We and our amazing team have the will to survive this. As Sir Ernest Shackleton famously put it, “Optimism is true moral courage”. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>With your help, we have it.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank You,
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Charlie and Miranda
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>#VERMONTSTRONG
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img class="m-text-editor-image" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/74053859_1689282309691640_r." width="100%" />
<div><br />
</div><img class="m-text-editor-image" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/74053859_1689282330553134_r." width="100%" />
<div><br />
</div>

Flood Damage Relief Fund for ShackletonThomas

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

adyen_v6_suspend_unsuspend_TEST01

adyen_v6_suspend_unsuspend_PROD

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

externalAccountHolderAccountCode

Adyen Account Holders with a large number of accounts

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

countryCode

Recurring donations audience

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

desktop

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fund country is US and user language is English (amp15)

Finland (FI) users

France (FR) users

Luxembourg (LU) users

Sitewide Banner: CA + en_CA

fundId

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD) (amp15)

Version 9.2.1 and above

Austria (AT) users

Netherlands (NL) users

United States (US) users

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Ireland (IE) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

United Kingdom (GB) users

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

Sweden (SE) users

ach frontend audience

Norway (NO) users

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

Excluded funds - Video Sharing (amp15)

smart goals test01

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

UC Tipping v20250107

en-us

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

Switzerland (CH) users

Recurring Upsell

Spain (ES) users

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Portugal (PT) users

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link (amp15)

Denmark (DK) users

Australia (AU) users

Android v10.6.0 and above

Experiences Leads

Italy (IT) users

Giving fund alpha whitelist

Everyone except Update Enhancement exclusions

userEmail

NPO profiles test users (prod)

Belgium (BE) users

New funds eligible - Posters v2

fundcountry is US

Germany (DE) users

Optimizely-Generated Audience for Backwards Compatibility

ai_title_page

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Your donation

GoFundMe protects your donation