Help Indigo Float Stay Afloat

***UPDATE***

On Wednesday 2/1/23 a judge TERMINATED the DOH's injunction against Indigo Float, meaning we are finally floating!!! This is a TREMENDOUS victory. We're thrilled to finally serve our community again!!

To keep the momentum going, we continue to humbly ask for your help. Our financial needs are still extensive and urgent, and we are not out of the woods yet.

1) The DOH is STILL actively trying to shut us down, filing new documentation in court as recently as 2/24/23. The legal fight is far from over, sadly...

2) Our landlord is actively seeking eviction through the courts. The Department of Health forced our business to shut down for 18 out of the last 24 months, making it impossible to keep up with rent. But talk to anyone who has floated with us... the community WANTS Indigo Float to stay put!! And now that we're floating again, we will have the ability to pay rent again. Paying tenants, and a happy community with access to their float therapy.

3) Our business lender has indicated intent to foreclose on our family's home (which we had to leverage to obtain our loan and open Indigo) if payments do not resume immediately. The lender will refrain from taking action so long as we make consistent payments from here out... but this is only realistic if we can continue floating... in our existing space.

While it is immensely helpful to be floating and bringing in revenue again, we still need your help to get us through this next transition and keep Indigo afloat! Please... if you feel called, and are able, any contributions would be so incredibly appreciated.

THANK YOU for your continued love, prayers, support, well wishes, emails, phone calls, messages, donations, good vibes... all of it! YOU got us to this point! Despite the indescribable stress and fear and frustration of this experience, our Float Family is truly the best.

We are so grateful.

Matt & Jacki

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Original message from December 2022:

We are Matt and Jacki Stewart, owners of Indigo Float Jacksonville.

Indigo Float provides floatation R.E.S.T. services, or Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy, aka "float therapy." Floating involves laying on the surface of dense Epsom salt solution, in a private room, free from light and sound. This incomparable environment allows the body to do miraculous things: floating relieves chronic pain, reduces anxiety and stress, aids inflammation and muscle soreness, improves sleep, and much more. Indigo Float Jacksonville is a family-owned-and-operated wellness center that's served thousands in our community, with nearly perfect reviews/ratings. We know our Members personally... many of them know our children by name -- a testament to how often our whole family is present at Indigo.

The Florida Department of Health (DOH) regulates float tanks as if they are public swimming pools. This approach unfortunately mandates the use of pool chemicals (chlorine/bromine) in enclosed float tanks, which we have vehemently opposed for various reasons (safety concerns, inadequate test kits, and better alternative methods exist, to name just a few). The DOH not only brushed off our chlorine concerns, but also chose to prosecute us to the fullest extent available to them - shutting us down (twice!) in the name of a pool permit.

We've been involved in a nearly 4-year-long legal dispute with the DOH over the permitting of our Floatspas... a bizarre use of taxpayer dollars, which saw the Duval County officials send the VICE Unit with an 8-person enforcement team to search our spa... then they allowed us to operate for a brief period of time - later revoking that permission without warning or reasonable explanation... they charged us personally with Contempt of Court (the judge found that we were NOT in contempt)... they've lied to judges in open court (we have transcripts)... it's been a wild ride, to put it mildly.

Most impactfully, the DOH has forced us to shut down our Floatspas for 16 of the last 22 months, rendering it impossible for us to keep up with our various financial obligations. Our shopping center landlord is understandably frustrated with our lack of revenue and inability to pay rent. We've been unable to keep current with our business loan, and we've lost all our staff because we haven't been able to keep our regular spa hours. The amazing Indigo Float Members who opted to keep their memberships active are the only reason we've been able to keep the lights on. (Thank you!!)

Indigo Float Jacksonville has quite literally been on life support for the last several months. The humans behind Indigo Float Jax are exhausted, yet we remain committed and passionate about doing what is right.

But finally, a breakthrough!!

On November 28, 2022, in our case against the FL Dept. of Health, a Judge for the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings ruled that the Department of Health’s “Float Tank Code” was an unadopted rule, and they must immediately stop relying upon it. Layman's translation? The judge found that the DOH made up their own enforcement rules instead of going through the proper rulemaking channels — a big no-no for a government agency.

This is an incredible victory for all float centers in Florida!! We expect this will lead to us finally floating again.

Until then... we need your help covering immediate operating expenses.

We've never asked for financial support in this manner, but we truly do need help to get through this transition time.

For those who are able, your contribution will go directly towards rent (the most immediate and critical need), loan payment, and payroll expenses, to ensure we're able to stay in our current space and bring back employees. Anything extra will go towards restocking Epsom salt and pod maintenance supplies.

Thank you in advance for even the smallest contribution. And if you are unable or choose not to contribute, we would happily accept your love, encouragement, prayers, good vibes, and any other positive juju you can send our way!!

With endless gratitude,

Matt & Jacki