Rand Family hurricane relief

Crawlspace covered in manure and farm sewage. 

Here is the Rand family. 

This photo was taken on Saturday before water had reached full flooding levels.The tan home is theirs. 
Hi everyone, my name is Hannah Tilton, I am the older sister to Tabitha. Because this is sort of long, feel free to skip down to the "How you can help" area.

I have started this page on behalf of my sister, her husband Ben, and their 7 month old son, Maximus as they have lost most of their belongings and contents of their home to Hurricane Florence. It is not in their nature to set something like this up for themselves. They are the kind of people that pick up your phone calls late at night and first to extend help before it's even asked. I love and adore this family so much and want to do what I can to help soften the financial blow they are being faced with after such a devastating and life changing event.

On Tuesday of last week there was a mandatory evacuation issued for their town in Jacksonville, NC as Florence was on it's way. Although the storm had been downgraded from a category 4 to a 1 storm, my sister thought just a bit of water would make it into the garage. She decided to steer on the side of caution, packed two duffle bags grabbed a couple things and made her way to my brothers house in PA with Max and one of her dogs. That evening Ben made his way with their second dog and was in PA Wednesday morning.

By Saturday the first shock came as their neighbor who lives up on the hill in the neighborhood informed them she was having to evacuate their home that has never seen water during a storm. At that point my sister's home had already had water half way up their house. By Sunday, a dam had broke in the middle of the night putting their neighborhood under even more water, guaranteeing most of their belongings, keepsakes, and basic living necessities are submerged in water and more than likely unsalvageable. As of today, the first floor of their home has been submerged in flooding water and more than likely sewage waste from local farms and homes. Based on flood water updates, it is very possible the second floor of their home has seen water. They won't know for sure until Ben returns to NC during his reporting dates. Our older brother, Matthew is planning on driving down with him to help sort through some of the damage and hopefully bring back anything that can be salvaged.

Ben, a very decorated marine, is supposed to report back to base by Sept 24th or possibly Oct 1st as the military base is in complete lockdown. This timeline keeps being extended based on the amount of flooding going on. You know it's bad when the military doesn't want you to come back. He will be traveling back to NC without his family in toe as their home will be uninhabitable without a timeline of when they can return and be together. With that, my sister and nephew will divide time with family members until conditions are safe to return and start sorting through what's left of their belongings. As for when, they don't know. 

Because they weren't expecting this sort of an impact, my sister had only packed two duffle bags and grabbed a couple things thinking they could return to their home the weekend of the storm. As you can imagine, alot of "should have done" have been running through their minds along with the stress of starting over are weighing heavily on them at this time. Although sentimental belongings are irreplaceable, I'm hoping to relieve some of the immediate financial burden that comes along with starting over after such an event. 

How you can help: We all know that insurance is wonderful when you need it... as long as you can afford the deductibles. The purpose of this page is to give them cash-in-hand and equip them to handle all of their immediate expenses like lodging, travel, gas, clothing, replacing much needed baby items, insurance deductibles (which their's are on the higher side), supplies for their neighbors,  replacement of military uniforms, and any possible surprises that will more than likely pop up after an event like this. 

You have no idea how much this will mean to their family! They do so much with their community. Not only building relationships with their neighbors, but the impact Ben has daily working with Wounded Warrior and fellow military members, on top of serving our country. Like I said in the beginning, they are the first to help and last to ask for it in return. I know it will be greatly received and when the opportunity arises, they will pay it forward.  Together we can provide a blessing and support in the midst of tragedy. 

If you aren't able to help in this way and would like to in another, please feel free to contact me directly. Please feel free to leave words of encouragement for them in the comment section to help boost them up in this difficult time. 

Thank you so SO much for taking the time to read through this and consider how you can help assist their family. I will be managing this page and will post updates as things are moving forward.

Much love, 

Hannah