JoAnn Marsh & the Georgetown Townhome Community

On the night of Sunday, December 25, 2022, residents of the Georgetown Community townhouses in State College, Pennsylvania, were evacuated from their homes due to a sinkhole in the community’s parking lot. One of those residents was my mother, an 86-year-old two-time cancer survivor on a fixed income with mobility and cardiac issues.

Since that Christmas night, the sinkhole has gotten worse and other problems have been exposed. On December 26, the homes were deemed unsafe for residents, displacing residents for an “indeterminate” period of time.

Some estimate that it will be 4-6 months before the issue has been assessed by engineers, the ground is stable enough to repair, and the water will be turned on again. It’s possible that some townhouses will have to be demolished or condemned.

Here is a local news segment about the emergency, aired on the local NBC station on Thursday, December 29.

Homeowners’ insurance policies are currently not covering any costs related to this displacement. Many owners, including my mother, have been told that since there is technically no damage to their insured area, the company has no obligation to approve any claim. That puts the burden of the expense of finding alternate housing arrangements—while still paying mortgages, insurance, and utilities—firmly on the homeowners.

As someone on a fixed income, whose sole asset is her home, my mother is experiencing severe stress and financial hardship due to this situation—and the uncertainty surrounding it. Until Christmas night, my mother had a simple, but comfortable life in the home that she’s occupied for almost 30 years. Then her world was upended.

She had outfitted her home with the accessibility devices she needs to live an independent life. She expected to be “removed from her home toes first.” Now she’s effectively homeless as an 86-year-old retiree who had a long career helping others as an R.N. and went back to work in her 70s to financially support my sister when she was battling Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, and had to continue working to financially recover after my sister’s death at age 44.

The Red Cross has been able to provide immediate assistance to residents—but they are only set up for very short-term assistance and not to support people who could be displaced for months. I have personally called five different organizations recommended to me. The Red Cross has been the only one able to provide any assistance, but the $500 available to displaced persons will only go so far. For many, that’s only a few days of hotel/food for their family. The money my mother received on Wednesday, December 28, was used to partially pay for a short-term rental (10 days) until I can set up my home for her needs and for the assistance she needs to live at home. Even with this support from the Red Cross, my mother has already spent $900 out of pocket in just 4.5 days.

My mother is one of the lucky ones, I suspect—because she can move in with me—but she will still be incurring unplanned expenses related to this traumatic incident. Once she’s settled in my home, I will have to drive her three hours back to State College to take her to doctors appointments, since she doesn’t drive or have a car. She will be separated from her friends that she has amassed in the more than 45 years she’s lived in State College. I worry not just for her physical health, but also her mental health.

This fund will be used to assist my mother with her displacement expenses—and to prepare for the possibility that she may never be able to return to her home again.

Any additional monies will be used to assist other families experiencing similar hardship related to this event.