Help Sonya & Digit Stay Afloat After Fire ❤️‍

Hi, I'm Sonya and that fluffy lil broad above is my dearest Digit. You might know me as Sincere Studio's BIPOC Sewing Club host. Ol' Didge and I am going through some deeper life troubles. We hope you can help.

I had a stovetop fire in mid-August. It was deceivingly small. I put the fire out but within minutes my entire one bedroom apartment was filled floor to ceiling with smoke...putrid, melted plasticky smoke. We got safely outside pretty quick. Nothing was destroyed by flames. However, the apartment is full of smoke damage. All the surfaces and belongings- furniture, cat trees, all the clothes in my bedroom closet, and kitchenware inside closed cabinets- were inundated with noxious soot and smoke particles.

A post-fire restoration service could have been completed within a few days. But Digit and I have been living at a hotel for 8 weeks because from August to the present, my renters insurance company, Lemonade, has been uncooperative and slo o o ow as hell every step of the way. The adjusters assigned to my case have repeatedly taken up to 6 days to return voicemails and emails from me, the landlord, and the fire restoration company.

Several weeks into our hotel stay, I received $3000, the maximum reimbursement my policy allows for hotel accommodations. Lemonade will not extend that coverage even though it is directly because of their own lack of urgency that I need additional funds. My hotel bill has reached $9,860. On top of this, my adjuster told me to collect all of my meal and grocery receipts for at least partial reimbursement...only to be denied. As it turns out, she forgot to tell me that food coverage is part of the $3,000 cap.

My furniture and other belongings were cleaned last week with the funds I received specifically for restoring personal belongings. This happened 7 weeks after the fire! Every day was another day added to my hotel bill.

The restoration company can't move forward with the cleaning of the apartment's structure (ceilings, walls, floors, carpet) until the insurance gives them the green light. My landlord and co. are in a continuous, weeks-long battle with Lemonade insurance over legalities in the case of the structural cleaning. Every day I follow this circular argument in their email chain is another day...added to my hotel bill.

I cannot find an accommodation with friends or a lower priced hotel where Digit can be. I've taken the action to apply to as many barista jobs as fast as I can (my work experience is largely in coffee and I was ready and looking for a barista job pre-fire) and taking every interview so that I can dramatically increase my income asap. I feel lucky that there are a lot of openings right now!

To bridge the gap, Digit and I are now open for cash or your moral support. Every smidgen will lighten the load. Sending love out to you xo