Donate to Sharon's Flood Recovery Efforts

OH MY, 2 Historic Flood Disasters within 6 weeks! Help Please!

Hello, my name is Lisa, and my sister Sharon lives in Bogota, TN, where she recently lived through two flood disasters just 6 weeks apart, both requiring her to evacuate her home. Sharon’s nearest relative, another sister, lives 3 ½ hours away. Sharon’s friends and neighbors are in the same “boat” as her, so both times Sharon and her long-time furry companion, Tate, required temporary housing at a local hotel in Dyersburg, TN. Sharon’s friends and neighbors warned her not to tell the local hotel why she needed a hotel room. Strange, right? I thought so too. Apparently, the hotels in the area have a policy not to rent to locals, as they’ve had issues with locals in the past. Sharon followed their advice, but this meant she couldn’t ask for a discount rate due to the disasters. Sharon has been staying at a local hotel since April 7th, when she followed a mandatory evacuation order. During the week of April 21st, Sharon’s sisters researched the availability of short-term housing, such as month-to-month rentals, apartments/homes with a 6-month lease, a hotel that offered short-term stays at a reduced rate, Airbnb monthly rentals, etc. Unfortunately, these options were either not available or there wasn’t a cost savings. I drove from Indiana the week of April 21st to assist Sharon with the overwhelming tasks and details of recovering from this disaster. As such, I met with the manager of the hotel where Sharon was staying and explained her situation. Luckily, he didn’t say she had to leave because she was a local, and he did reduce her rate by $20. As her home is currently unlivable, your kind donations will go directly to fund her temporary lodging costs at the local hotel.

Sharon owns her home, which is now unlivable. The AMAZING Southern Baptist Church, West Tennessee Disaster Relief team is helping make Sharon’s home livable again! They are providing the building materials and the labor to not only make Sharon’s home livable but to bring this home built in 1971 up to code in 2025. They are absolutely the answer to our prayers, and we’re hoping you also are the answer to our prayers. One of the areas that this wonderful organization cannot assist with is replacing appliances. Your kind donations will go directly to fund replacing Sharon’s appliances, furniture, and offsite storage for things she was able to save.

You may be wondering whether any of the federal, state, and national non-profit organizations are assisting Sharon. At this time, the answer is “no.” As of today, FEMA has not approved providing direct assistance to individuals affected by the Bogota flooding. In turn, that means the TN Emergency Management Agency also isn’t able to assist individuals directly. Sharon has contacted the American Red Cross Disaster Services through their National Headquarters website, but no response as of today. Although, just this week, we learned the name and are trying to contact a local American Red Cross Executive Director who is reaching out to the Bogota flood victims.

Help from the Southern Baptist Church, West Tennessee Disaster Relief Team, and the local Bogota community has been wonderful. As you can imagine, recovering from such a disaster quickly depletes your savings and unexpectedly increases your debt. ANY donation from you is greatly and truly appreciated. All donations will be used to help Sharon pay for those expenses which the local organizations and community can’t fund but are essential to Sharon’s recovery from this disaster.

Again, thank you for your consideration.