Please help Cherie. Hurricane Ian took everything.

Hi,

My name is Elena Flores of Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am fundraising for my close friends and former Ann Arborites, Cherie Rehkopf and John Ozga. Cherie and John now live in Bonita Springs and chose to stay as the storm came in because it was projected to hit so far north of them. As Ian hit, they found themselves in the eye of the storm, ground zero for the largest hurricane to hit the Florida coast in living record. The following is a record of what happened as Cherie recorded it. Now, a month later, they survived the storm, but the destruction continues. Cherie and John have lost everything. Please consider donating to help them rebuild and recover their lives. All funds donated will go directly to assisting Cherie and John rebuild their home, buy new clothes and necessities, and pay for any property repairs. Thank you for your time.

CHERIE-JOHN & IAN

SEP. 28, 2022

I said to John, shouldn’t we take the RV inland to our friend’s house.

No, even if there is a surge it’s not going to be that high.

THE PLAN

Park the RV in our driveway, which is protected facing north between our house and the neighbor’s house.

Stock enough essentials to last a few days

Check the onboard generator

Fill gas tank

Fill water tank

Watch the weather news

Honker down in the RV which is taller than the house and wait

REALITY

Watched the weather news

8-12 ft. Water surge was possible but our area has a number of little islands of mangroves that should have detoured it

North of us in Bonita Shores in Bonita Springs was getting hammered because of the bands on the north side of Ian

Not much was happening

Water started to flood the back yard

Things were floating in the back yard

Rising pretty quickly it started to come in the RV

Too deep to move the RV we hoped it would stop

It didn’t

John emptied the contents of the big cooler and stored 3 of the 12 batteries

The rest he moved higher up along with anything else

We used plastic bins turned upside down on the bed with the couch cushions on top

Me, the dogs and cats stayed in the back

John kept stowing things

The water kept rising in the RV and when it hit my chest I called 911

Emergency rescues were not happening

We were out of realistic escapes

THOUGHT WE ALL WERE GOING TO DROWN

John was hoping the RV would float

Too heavy with full tanks

I called 911 again

No rescue possible

Then the water went down an inch and continued to recede

We slept in the drenched RV on those couch cushions with the pets

Nothing dry to cover up with except a pair of rain pants and a long, very narrow piece of fabric

It was a long night

The next morning we went into the house to see the damage

Everything had turned every which way, the refrigerator was on its back

The water went 6 inches from the ceiling

Photo

The fire department came out to check on us

The Sheriff’s Dept. came as well

WE ARE HOMELESS

-Cherie Rehkopf

#gofundme #donate #gofundmedonations #gofundmecampaign #help #gofundmeplease #fundraiser #charity #love #fundraising #support #donations #crowdfunding #donation #gofundmehelp #share #hurricaneIan