Hello! If you're new here, we're Jae and Brynn. Two humans doing our best to survive late-stage capitalism. Brynn is a therapist, and Jae works in public health. We know the world is uniquely hard for so many in our community right now, and it's a challenging time to be asking for help. But we have an emergency.

In July 2023, we lost our Johnson, Vermont home in a catastrophic flood. We were evacuated out of chest-deep water in the early hours of the morning with only the things we could carry. When we were able to get back to our house after the water receded, we discovered that our home and everything in it had been destroyed. The Red Cross featured our story for their reporting on the flood: Jae Basiliere's Story.

The last 2.5 years have been a slow and painful recovery process. We've moved five times since the flood. We've had to juggle paying rent, paying a mortgage on an uninhabitable house, and trying to replace some of what we lost. Even with exceedingly generous family and friends, we're living paycheck to paycheck and just barely keeping our heads above water (pun intended). We're asking for your help today because we are approaching a major recovery milestone and we've hit a serious roadblock.

On November 20, 2025, we are scheduled to sell our house through a FEMA buyout program. The Town of Johnson will purchase our home, demolish what is left of the structure, and repurpose the land for a community flood mitigation project. However, we've just learned that the amount of money we were offered through the buyout program is about $6,500 shy of what we need to pay off our mortgage. We had owned the home for less than two years before we lost it, and the fees accrued through short-term disaster deferment, hardship refinancing, and late payments have ballooned the amount of money we owe the mortgage company to $10,000 in excess of what we initially borrowed.

If we are unable to show up with the outstanding balance, we cannot move forward with closing. Our ability to participate in the buyout program is at risk. We could lose our only pathway to getting out from under the financial burden of this house. We are so close to moving past this, but relief is still just out of reach.

We know things are hard for most people financially right now, and mutual aid might not be in the cards for you. But, in the event that it is, we would be eternally grateful for anything you could contribute towards helping us close this chapter and move towards more meaningful healing.

with appreciation,

Jae and Brynn