As you know, the Lindberg family has been through a lot over the past year with the death of Eric, their oldest son. I was sitting at a meeting with Scott last week when he opened up about some tax issues that they were now running into due to some loans that Eric and the Lindberg's had taken out for his education. Please read the story below by Scott Lindberg, Eric's father.

"You know that my son, Eric, died in February of 2016 from complications from what should have been a routine cardiac catheterization. He was 25 years old, married to a woman he loved intensely, and with two boys under the age of three. When Eric had gone to college, I had taken out tens of thousands of dollars in loans, through the federal FAFSA program, to help pay for his tuition. And as you might expect, the monthly payments on those loans were largely interest.

After he died, I called the agency that manages the loans and told them Eric died and asked if anything needed to change about the loans in light of the student's death. Well, they said that the loans would be written off, that I no longer had to pay anything on them! That was great and I thanked them and didn't give it another thought. Until this year, when I received a 1099 form (tax form) in the mail for the amount of the forgiven loans. They were telling me that the forgiven amount was considered income, and I needed to pay income taxes on it. I understand why they must consider a forgiven loan to be income. Otherwise, it would be a large loophole that could be used to cheat the system. But, wow, what a shock it was because I hadn't considered that.

So, with the large increase in "income", our federal and state income taxes were suddenly much higher than we imagined. And, not only that but the total income number was now higher than what was allowed for the Obamacare subsidies we had received. So, the government requires us to pay back the Obamacare subsidies as well. I added up the difference between what we would have paid and what we now must pay, on both our federal and state income taxes, and added the amount of the Obamacare subsidy payback, and it totals $7855."

Once I heard this story from Scott, I immediately knew that there were MANY people like myself who would see this as an opportunity to continue to love on the Lindberg's and help with this unexpected financial burden. When I offered to set something like this up for Scott, he literally did not know what to say and had not even considered this as an option. He discussed this with Cheryl, Lizzie, and Ian and they ultimately agreed. One of the comments from our conversation that I have not been able to forget was "you know what, the Minnesota Lindberg's and Wisconsin Lindberg's feel that they have been LOVED SO WELL by the church during this challenging year! It has been amazing to see God use His people to support and comfort us during this incredibly challenging time."

You are SO right Scott. We do love you, Cheryl, Lizzie, Ian and the boys and are happy to continue to walk through life together, pointing you to Christ and bearing any of the burdens we can to lighten your load. Thanks for letting us know about this need and for the example you all have set over the past year dealing with the loss of your son (husband, daddy, and brother).

Please join me and donate to this GoFundMe campaign. I would love to reach our goal before April 12th if we can so they can have the money before tax season closes.