We met Vicky and Charlie almost 20 years ago, with young children at home. Vicky worked for Seeking Sitters and Charlie worked for Walmart. Later, they started their own house-cleaning business, Dirt Busters. After raising five children of their own, they had the experience needed to support other parents and families. Nowadays, Vicky and Charlie housesit and stay with pets/ranch animals when folks travel. Their love and support throughout the years has been invaluable. Vicky and Charlie have become family.

In the spring of 2023, a fire broke out in their home in Owasso that they’ve shared for over 40 years. The fire spread quickly, destroying much of the home and everything they owned. Months later, Vicky and Charlie began the difficult and painful process of rebuilding. They worked side-by-side with a local fire recovery and rebuilding contractor to repair the extensive damage. Vicky and Charlie depleted their financial resources, but were happy to move back into their home in the Fall of 2023.

Months after, Vicky's health took a turn for the worse. She began experiencing dizziness, headaches, and various respiratory symptoms. For two years, Vicky was unaware of the cause, but always felt worse at home. Just this week, laboratory testing confirmed the presence of a high concentration of various strains of toxic mold throughout the house. It is behind the new sheetrock walls, inside the new doorframes, under the floorboards, and inside the air ducts. Sadly, the contractor began the rebuilding process without properly drying the framing and floor of the home that was soaked with water during the process of putting out the fire. A recent bid to remediate the mold and replace the materials contaminated with mold is over $50,000. Insurance does not cover mold remediation. The cost and years involved in pursuing the contractor for damages makes litigation impractical.

Vicky and Charlie can no longer live in their house. Over the past several months they have been forced from their home and stayed with friends, lived in a borrowed trailer, stayed in a hotel, and even spent weeks camping in the backyard. We have set a goal of raising $20,000 to allow Vicky and Charlie to begin removing the mold in their home or to choose an alternate place to live. Please consider making a donation to help make this a reality.