I never thought we would be doing this, but anything will help. We experienced a serious home repair issue — our sewage system failed and it turns out it was never actually connected to the city sewer. This caused us to turn off our water and rent a portapotty - very elegant. We thought it would be covered by insurance, but it will not, and there is significant damage to the basement and the heating system. We tried to get a home equity loan but were unable to get one, and now one of us is on disability after a surgery.

We understand the cost of the repair to be in the ballpark of $25,000, which is a big, embarrassing, and humbling ask, but we earn just above what we might be able to get state assistance for and we’re down to a single income. If anyone in our friend group could help a little, we’d be enormously grateful. Winter is coming and we have to get this fixed and frankly, we can’t.