Rally for Jeff: Unexpected Flood Tragedy

Many of you have heard about the recent flooding that took place in the Midwest and this is a sad story about our Peru High School class of 1989 fellow classmate, and one of my best friends, Jeff Ryals. He and his wife and family lived in Clarksville, TN. This area recieved 96 inches of rain between April 2nd and April 6th and left their neighborhood destroyed by flood waters. Their home and its conents are lost. So why the GoFundMe, they have insurance, right? WRONG. When they bought they home, they were told that they did not NEED flood insurance so they and NOBODY else in the neighborhood bought any. didn't buy any. Why would someone not buy flood insurance right? Because the local government and surveyors assured them and the lenders that they lived in an area that wasn't under threat. What they DIDN'T tell them was that recent rains in neighboring areas, THEY diverted flood waters to their area putting their homes at risk. The local authorities gambled with their homes and lost. This has made national news.

Jeff and his family lost everything and have no insurance. There is a national effort to assist these homeowners because flood waters should NEVER have been diverted to their area causing this flood but that could take years. For now, they have no home, no beds to sleep in, no kitchen to cook, no place for peace and they need OUR help.

A little sotry about Jeff and his family and why they deserve our generosity. When my mother died unexpectdly in 2010, my sister and I were left with a massive debt to bury our mother and we were not in good financial situations ourselves. My Grandparts (my Mothers parents) who were still alive and were very poor and could only give us a few hundred dollars toward the $20,000 debt my sister and I incurred to give our beloved mother a proper burial and there was NO GoFundMe back then (hard to believe, right?) But Jeff wrote me a check for FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS! That was a lot of money in 2010 and I didn't even ask for it, he just did it and never asked for anything in return. He gave more than ANYONE else in my entire family... and now I'm going to give back and ask that you do the same. Please help fellow classmate from the Peru High School class of 1989... a very good man, Jeff Ryals.