Florida Sinkhole Forces Family to Abandon Home
Donation protected
As much of 2020 has been unpredictable, I’m sure by now most of you have seen or heard of the growing sinkhole that is located in a neighborhood in NW Gainesville, FL. One family in particular has had to abandon their home and find alternate long term housing, as the sinkhole continues to grow just inches from their home. With almost no notice, the city forced them to evacuate their home and relocate what belongings they could safely. The expenses of relocating, temporary storage, hotel expenses, and indefinitely having both a mortgage payment and rent payment are adding up. All of this stress is on top of this couple’s pending arrival of their first child, due in December.
Mat and Lucy Sebastian moved to Gainesville in 2014 for Mat to pursue his education at the University of Florida. They purchased their home in 2015 in a quiet, established neighborhood with hopes of raising their family in that home. No one could have predicted this situation. They have been working tirelessly with the City of Gainesville over the last two weeks along with maintaining employment and education responsibilities. This includes multiple calls and site visits throughout the week with City officials, engineers, etc.
The City has never faced a situation of this magnitude and are still taking the decisions on a day to day basis, with no real urgency to resolve this catastrophe in a timely manner. This puts the affected families in a financial position that no homeowner should ever be faced with.
“We will truly miss this house where we had so many ‘firsts’ of our lives. We loved the personality of our house. It was unique and special. We are also going to miss seeing our neighbors on a daily basis who, when we needed to evacuate, came together to help us pack and move out of the house quickly. Our funky little street, filled with quirky little homes, was also filled with these great people and we hope the hole stops growing and doesn’t threaten any more families and their homes.” Mathew Sebastian
“I never thought that in my eighth month of pregnancy I would go from decorating a nursery and preparing for the birth of our first child, to being technically homeless and scrambling to find a new place to live, all the while dealing with the intricacies of home insurance and local government. Despite this, I am so grateful that we are all safe and have each other, and our community’s support throughout this.” Lucy Sebastian
Any donations made will help cover the added expenses this family has been forced to incur. Thank you.
Below are a few links to news clips as well as campaigns for other families affected by this event.
https://www.wcjb.com/2020/10/23/sinkhole-in-gainesville-neighborhood-evacuates-6-families/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/Growing-Sinkhole-Threatens-Home
https://www.gofundme.com/f/rpv3k-1000
Mat and Lucy Sebastian moved to Gainesville in 2014 for Mat to pursue his education at the University of Florida. They purchased their home in 2015 in a quiet, established neighborhood with hopes of raising their family in that home. No one could have predicted this situation. They have been working tirelessly with the City of Gainesville over the last two weeks along with maintaining employment and education responsibilities. This includes multiple calls and site visits throughout the week with City officials, engineers, etc.
The City has never faced a situation of this magnitude and are still taking the decisions on a day to day basis, with no real urgency to resolve this catastrophe in a timely manner. This puts the affected families in a financial position that no homeowner should ever be faced with.
“We will truly miss this house where we had so many ‘firsts’ of our lives. We loved the personality of our house. It was unique and special. We are also going to miss seeing our neighbors on a daily basis who, when we needed to evacuate, came together to help us pack and move out of the house quickly. Our funky little street, filled with quirky little homes, was also filled with these great people and we hope the hole stops growing and doesn’t threaten any more families and their homes.” Mathew Sebastian
“I never thought that in my eighth month of pregnancy I would go from decorating a nursery and preparing for the birth of our first child, to being technically homeless and scrambling to find a new place to live, all the while dealing with the intricacies of home insurance and local government. Despite this, I am so grateful that we are all safe and have each other, and our community’s support throughout this.” Lucy Sebastian
Any donations made will help cover the added expenses this family has been forced to incur. Thank you.
Below are a few links to news clips as well as campaigns for other families affected by this event.
https://www.wcjb.com/2020/10/23/sinkhole-in-gainesville-neighborhood-evacuates-6-families/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/Growing-Sinkhole-Threatens-Home
https://www.gofundme.com/f/rpv3k-1000
Organizer and beneficiary
Tabitha Priester
Organizer
Gainesville, FL
Lucy Sebastian
Beneficiary
