Sonya Burr's House Flooding
Donation protected
My mom, Sonya Burr, needs help with fixing a flooding problem downstairs in her house. Before we ask for your help, I want to explain her story so you understand who your donation would be going to and how much it would help her.
Our home was built in the 1940s by my great uncle Jake. I was born in 1991. My mom and I lived with my grandparents across the street from my sweet uncle Jake until he passed away in 1994. We loved visiting with him very much; when he died, he left the house to my mom for us to live in.
Several years later, the perfect man for my mom asked her to marry him (with my approval, of course). Keith had a son named Tyler, and in March of 1998, we happily became a family of four.
The only problem we faced was finding enough space for everyone in uncle Jake's small, cozy home. Keith was a talented carpenter and skilled builder. He had hopes of building us a new house in his home town of Alexandria. However, with my elderly great-grandparents living beside us and my grandparents across the street from us, it was important that my mom be near them to help them as they got older. So in 1998-99, Keith decided to build an addition on to our house. This addition consisted of a master bedroom and laundry room upstairs and a bedroom with a large family room downstairs.
That year was filled with a few of life's surprises for us. On April 26, 1999, our family of four became a family of five as we welcomed sweet Sydney Marie into the world. We were more than happy to have our home's addition by that time. During that year, Keith also began to have some health problems. He started to have troubles with everyday tasks, such as opening a tube of toothpaste and putting in his contacts. As you may expect with any hard-working manly man, it took my mom months to convince him to see a doctor. As symptoms progressed, he visited multiple doctors and had many tests done. In 2001, he was diagnosed with ALS.
Our lives were forever changed. As a ten year old, I quickly found from a online search that ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, was fatal and incurable. I can still remember how helpless and empty I felt. Keith was given 18 months to live when he was first diagnosed in 2001; he suffered from ALS until 2010. There are no words to describe those 9 long, heartbreaking years. Our families and close friends know of the hardships we faced. If you have ever known someone with ALS, you know of the unspeakable pains a person and a family goes through. Our story of these years could truly be an entire novel.
But it's important to understand how this shaped and changed my mom. If you know her at all, you should know that among many other charactertistics, she is one of the strongest, most selfless, God fearing women you've ever met. I do not exaggerate one bit in decribing her this way. She is always driven by doing what is right and fighting for her family, and she has the strength to endure anything life throws her way because of her faith in God.
As she spent years taking care of her husband afflicted with this disease, she also had to continue to provide and run our household. Mom has been a hard worker for her full-time job at Earthlink for over 15 years. We are grateful to her bosses and co-workers there for all of the compassion they have shown her throughout the years. She's worked hard, and God has taken care of her by keeping that job in her life.
As Keith became sicker and in the years after he's passed away, Mom has learned a lot about the challenges of not having an able man to take care of problems around the house. Our loving family and so many of Mom and Keith's friends from church have helped us tremendously over the years. It would be impossible to describe all of the ways we have been helped by so many people, and we are eternally thankful and blessed by those who have helped out in so many ways.
Mom and Keith have been facing the problem of our basement flooding since 2002. Our original home was never intended to have a basement under ground level, and fixing the flooding has been an on-going mystery. It has happened countless times in the past 13 years. Carpet has been ruined and taken out completely; the walls have clear water damage; mold grows continuously because of the dampness. If you've ever dealt with a flooding basement, you know that it's tedious and tiring to clean out. It takes a surprising amount of energy and muscle power to sit furniture up off the ground, sweep out water, shop vac water up, and clean up the aftermath. After you do the same thing over and over for years, it also becomes heartbreaking and frustrating.
As Mom gets older, it's a problem that's getting more difficult for her to take care of on her own. If the problem doesn't get fixed, it will be something she continues to deal with into older age.
Through the years, she has tried multiple affordable fixes. Ditches have been dug, small drains have been placed, and plastic coverings have been put on the ground around the sides of the house. All of these solutions have been temporary fixes that never really fixed anything. The flooding has continued to relentlessly happen.
A permanent fix must be found because at this point, the foundation of the house is at risk. There are already visible cracks in the floors and one on the house. According to a foundation specialist, the problem will eventually lead to the addition separating from the original structure and her home virutally breaking apart.
Mom has spoken with mulitple engineers and foundation specialists along with skilled home builders from around the county. So many people have come out to look at the problem. Some are completely dumbfounded and say they have no idea how it could be fixed; others see the problem and know that digging a drain deep enough around the house and filling it with the proper draining system and gravel will help eliminate the problem. However, this will cost thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars that my mom does not have.
If God leads you to, please help my mom with the solution for this problem. I know that God gives us many trials and tribulations in our life, but she has faced so many. Having this fixed would be a weight off her shoulders in ways you don't even know.
If you know of anyone who may be able to help in fixing the problem, please get in contact with us.
Thank you for taking the time to read her story.
Our home was built in the 1940s by my great uncle Jake. I was born in 1991. My mom and I lived with my grandparents across the street from my sweet uncle Jake until he passed away in 1994. We loved visiting with him very much; when he died, he left the house to my mom for us to live in.
Several years later, the perfect man for my mom asked her to marry him (with my approval, of course). Keith had a son named Tyler, and in March of 1998, we happily became a family of four.
The only problem we faced was finding enough space for everyone in uncle Jake's small, cozy home. Keith was a talented carpenter and skilled builder. He had hopes of building us a new house in his home town of Alexandria. However, with my elderly great-grandparents living beside us and my grandparents across the street from us, it was important that my mom be near them to help them as they got older. So in 1998-99, Keith decided to build an addition on to our house. This addition consisted of a master bedroom and laundry room upstairs and a bedroom with a large family room downstairs. That year was filled with a few of life's surprises for us. On April 26, 1999, our family of four became a family of five as we welcomed sweet Sydney Marie into the world. We were more than happy to have our home's addition by that time. During that year, Keith also began to have some health problems. He started to have troubles with everyday tasks, such as opening a tube of toothpaste and putting in his contacts. As you may expect with any hard-working manly man, it took my mom months to convince him to see a doctor. As symptoms progressed, he visited multiple doctors and had many tests done. In 2001, he was diagnosed with ALS.
Our lives were forever changed. As a ten year old, I quickly found from a online search that ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, was fatal and incurable. I can still remember how helpless and empty I felt. Keith was given 18 months to live when he was first diagnosed in 2001; he suffered from ALS until 2010. There are no words to describe those 9 long, heartbreaking years. Our families and close friends know of the hardships we faced. If you have ever known someone with ALS, you know of the unspeakable pains a person and a family goes through. Our story of these years could truly be an entire novel. But it's important to understand how this shaped and changed my mom. If you know her at all, you should know that among many other charactertistics, she is one of the strongest, most selfless, God fearing women you've ever met. I do not exaggerate one bit in decribing her this way. She is always driven by doing what is right and fighting for her family, and she has the strength to endure anything life throws her way because of her faith in God.As she spent years taking care of her husband afflicted with this disease, she also had to continue to provide and run our household. Mom has been a hard worker for her full-time job at Earthlink for over 15 years. We are grateful to her bosses and co-workers there for all of the compassion they have shown her throughout the years. She's worked hard, and God has taken care of her by keeping that job in her life.
As Keith became sicker and in the years after he's passed away, Mom has learned a lot about the challenges of not having an able man to take care of problems around the house. Our loving family and so many of Mom and Keith's friends from church have helped us tremendously over the years. It would be impossible to describe all of the ways we have been helped by so many people, and we are eternally thankful and blessed by those who have helped out in so many ways.
Mom and Keith have been facing the problem of our basement flooding since 2002. Our original home was never intended to have a basement under ground level, and fixing the flooding has been an on-going mystery. It has happened countless times in the past 13 years. Carpet has been ruined and taken out completely; the walls have clear water damage; mold grows continuously because of the dampness. If you've ever dealt with a flooding basement, you know that it's tedious and tiring to clean out. It takes a surprising amount of energy and muscle power to sit furniture up off the ground, sweep out water, shop vac water up, and clean up the aftermath. After you do the same thing over and over for years, it also becomes heartbreaking and frustrating.
As Mom gets older, it's a problem that's getting more difficult for her to take care of on her own. If the problem doesn't get fixed, it will be something she continues to deal with into older age.
Through the years, she has tried multiple affordable fixes. Ditches have been dug, small drains have been placed, and plastic coverings have been put on the ground around the sides of the house. All of these solutions have been temporary fixes that never really fixed anything. The flooding has continued to relentlessly happen.
A permanent fix must be found because at this point, the foundation of the house is at risk. There are already visible cracks in the floors and one on the house. According to a foundation specialist, the problem will eventually lead to the addition separating from the original structure and her home virutally breaking apart.
Mom has spoken with mulitple engineers and foundation specialists along with skilled home builders from around the county. So many people have come out to look at the problem. Some are completely dumbfounded and say they have no idea how it could be fixed; others see the problem and know that digging a drain deep enough around the house and filling it with the proper draining system and gravel will help eliminate the problem. However, this will cost thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars that my mom does not have.
If God leads you to, please help my mom with the solution for this problem. I know that God gives us many trials and tribulations in our life, but she has faced so many. Having this fixed would be a weight off her shoulders in ways you don't even know.
If you know of anyone who may be able to help in fixing the problem, please get in contact with us.
Thank you for taking the time to read her story.
Organizer and beneficiary
Anna Stanley
Organizer
Anniston, AL
Sonya Burr
Beneficiary