Help me keep a promise to my Grandfather, before It’s too late.

Before he died in 2016 at the age of 90, I made him a promise.

I promised him we would never sell the family property.

Today, after a devastating burst pipe, a year-long battle with State Farm, and mounting legal expenses, I'm fighting to keep that promise.

I never imagined we'd be taking on a multi-billion-dollar insurance company just to save our family's home.

But here we are.

My family's roots in Paramus, New Jersey go back more than 100 years.

In 1924, my great-grandparents arrived in America through Ellis Island. They were German Jews who left Germany after witnessing the rise of extremism firsthand. When Brownshirts attempted to recruit my great-uncle as a young boy, they knew it was time to leave.

They came to America seeking freedom, safety, and the chance to build a better life for their family.

I used to have the Ellis Island records and ship manifest documenting their arrival. But they were among the many family heirlooms lost during this nightmare ordeal with State Farm.

My great-grandparents settled in Paramus and built a life from nothing.

Four generations later, that property remains the heart of our family's story.

My grandfather, Emil Setmayer, was known affectionately throughout Paramus as "Cap" or "Set."

He was a World War II veteran who shipped off to serve his country at just 17 years old. He spent almost 40 years with the Paramus Police Department, retiring as a Captain, and devoted more than 70 years of service as a volunteer firefighter.

He loved Paramus.

And so do I. It's part of who I am.

(Me & Mom, 1st Paramus 4th of July Parade after Gramps passed, 2017)

Every Fourth of July from 1947 until 2016, he marched every year in the town's parade. In his final year, the Paramus Police Department literally wheeled him down the parade route because he was no longer able to walk it himself. It was his final parade.

Ten days later, he passed away.

(Gramps last parade, 2016)

When he turned 80, the town temporarily renamed the street in front of Police Headquarters "Captain Emil Setmayer Way" in his honor. Today, his name is memorialized among the officers who served our community.

Me and Mom at the 2017 Paramus Memorial Day Service Honoring Gramps

Every year he tended his garden and cared for the lilac bushes planted by my great-grandparents nearly a century ago. Every spring, those lilacs still bloom. He would cut bunches and sell them on the corner using nothing more than an honor-system bucket. And they were always free for 1st Responders.

That's the kind of man he was.

Since his passing, each Spring we would bring some of the family lilacs to his grave to keep the tradition alive.

His love of community, service, and country helped shape who I became. It's one of the reasons I've spent my career speaking out, standing on principle, and defending democracy and the values I believe in, even when doing so came with professional and financial consequences.

Maintaining that integrity has not always been easy.

But it's why asking for help now is so difficult and why this property means so much to me.

In March 2025, disaster struck.

A burst pipe caused catastrophic damage to the home.

The house became uninhabitable.

We lost virtually everything inside.

We lost family photographs spanning generations. We lost letters and documents from relatives who are long gone. We lost precious 8mm films of my great-grandparents and my mother as a little girl. We lost my grandfather's World War II uniform, military records.

We lost the accordion he played as a child.

We lost my grandmother's dog show ribbons.

We lost my baby shoes.

Family heirlooms and keepsakes that connected us to our past.

Some losses can be measured in dollars.

These cannot.

A few months ago I shared an emotional video about what was happening.

Millions of people watched. Thousands reached out with encouragement and support. Many shared their own stories of battling insurance companies after disaster struck.

The kindness people showed our family meant more than I can ever express.

But what many people don't know is that our story is much worse.

Months later, we're still fighting.

The house is still uninhabitable.

And now we're facing the possibility of losing the property altogether.

Like so many Americans, we believed that if disaster ever struck, our insurance company would be there to help us rebuild.

We paid our premiums. We followed the rules. We trusted that when we needed help most, the company we had faithfully paid for years would honor its commitments.

Instead, we've spent more than a year trapped in a nightmare.

A nightmare of delays, underpayments, unanswered questions, and obstacles that have pushed our family to the brink of financial ruin while our home sits uninhabitable.

State Farm's slogan is "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there."

For our family, that couldn't be further from the truth.

State Farm has not been a good neighbor.

While a multi-billion-dollar insurance company drags out this process, our family's future hangs in the balance.

We've exhausted savings. Taken on mounting expenses. Watched costs continue to grow. And all the while, the property that has been in our family for more than a century remains empty and deteriorating.

The stress has taken a tremendous toll on my family.

During this ordeal, my mother has been hospitalized twice and diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. Watching her health decline while fighting to save the home she loves has been heartbreaking.

As if that weren't enough, my stepfather was unexpectedly diagnosed with a brain tumor and is now preparing for surgery later this year.

Now we face another devastating reality.

Without legal action, we may never receive the resources needed to restore the property and save it from being lost forever.

But pursuing that legal action requires money we simply don't have after more than a year of fighting.

We never imagined we'd be taking on a multi-billion-dollar insurance company just to save our family's home.

But here we are.

And I know we're not alone.

Every day, families across America discover that the hardest part of a disaster isn't always the disaster itself.

It's what comes afterward.

I know some people may assume that because they see me on television, I have the means to absorb these costs myself.

The reality is very different.

Television appearances don't make someone wealthy. In recent years, I chose to walk away from an established organization and build something of my own because I wasn't willing to compromise my principles or my integrity. It was the right decision, but it came with significant professional and financial sacrifice.

Like so many families facing unexpected hardship, we've reached a point where we cannot do this alone.

That's why I'm asking for help.

Our immediate goal is to raise $75,000 by July 15 so we can retain legal counsel and continue pursuing our claim. The full cost of this fight may reach six figures, but reaching this first milestone is critical if we're going to have any chance of saving the property.

How Your Donation Helps

Your support will help fund:

• Legal fees and litigation expenses

• Property preservation and maintenance expenses

• Temporary housing and family expenses while the home remains uninhabitable

• Efforts to prevent foreclosure while this case moves forward

This isn't just about a house.

It's about preserving a century of family history.

It's about protecting the place where four generations of my family built their lives.

It's about honoring the sacrifices my great-grandparents made when they came to America through Ellis Island.

It's about protecting the home my grandfather built with his own hands and loved.

And it's about helping me keep a promise I made to him before he died.

But it's also about standing up to a system that too often leaves families powerless when they need help the most.

I know our family is not alone. Across America, countless families have found themselves trapped in similar battles after devastating losses.

Today, we're simply asking for the chance to keep fighting.

If you're able to donate, thank you.

If you can't donate, please consider sharing our story.

Every contribution helps.

Every share matters.

And every act of kindness brings us one step closer to saving a home, a legacy, and a promise that means everything to our family.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

With gratitude,

Tara Setmayer & Family