Hi there, my name is Kate and I am helping with this fundraiser for myself and my family of 6, which includes 2 furbabies as well.

2 months ago we came home from dinner to our Townhome completely flooded and pouring water from what seemed like every part of the ceiling.

It turned out that we had pipes burst and leaking from a backed up main line and in the upstairs master bathroom area where it backed up and flooded the entire upstairs. It then went through all of the flooring and ended up leaking down completely through the ceiling so the entire downstairs was flooded as well.

There were holes coming through the drywall, and even our lights and ceiling fans had water pouring out of them too. When I say it looked like it was literally raining through the entire house, it really did.

So after one horrible night of attempting to get the home in a position that it wouldn't cause any more damage, we started all of the necessary steps to try and fix the situation.

We had a company come out and help with the drying of the home and thought it would be a simple fix of the plumbing, drying the home, and some minor drywall patching. This was not the case.

Little did we know there were categories of types of water from certain pipe lines and ours happened to be a "Category 3". This means that the water was contaminated, that it likely had urine, feces, or other forms of bacteria in it due to where the water originated from, likely being a sewage line.

With the water being contaminated it was required to remove any and all items or parts of the home the water touched.

We lost literally every single personal property item we owned except for one room and the kitchen that somehow wasn't affected.

The demolition company also ripped out all of the flooring in the entire townhouse, all of the downstairs drywall, including the ceiling and walls, the barhroom vanities, tile, and more.

So the floors, walls, ceiling, bathrooms, and everything we owned was torn out and thrown away.

They then began the disinfectant process. So at this point the home is literally gutted and empty. And we have spent 8,000 on plumbing, and another 10,000 on just the demolition part. Mind you none of that includes the actual renovations or the personal property lost.

Now of course we had insurance so we thought, "okay this will be tough for a bit but we will get some funds back and be able to get the home fixed and get things back to normal".

Well, nope still not the case for us. We had a whopping 2,400 allotted for relocation costs, only had 4,900 for personal property, and then the dwelling portion, which wasn't a horrible amount but they approved us for next to NOTHING.

Due to the type of flooding and where the plumber said it originated from, they denied our claim stating it was HOAs responsibility. Well in our HOA contract there were signed agreements that any issue within our unit regardless of where the issue came from would be paid by ourselves. So insurance got out of 90 percent of what we could have received.

They wrote a check for 6,730.

This didn't even cover the entire cost of demolition. So we are truly SOL, and that's just being as honest as I can be.

So we are requesting help for renovations, relocation, and at least some semblance of furniture again. For instance, beds, clothes, and what not for the kids.

After losing probably 20,000 in personal property there's really nothing we can do to recoup all of that, it will just take time. But the necessities have to be repurchased at the very least.

So now we are in complete debt. We're behind on all of our bills, and we aren't able to continue with the repairs because every dime we're getting from working is going to a hotel or airbnb for us to live at during the reno process.

We are literally drowning under the weight of the financial strains from this flood. And I say drowning because that is exactly what it feels like. The amount of money required to get back to some semblance of normalcy is just not fathomable on our own. We're barely able to pay just the relocation costs for all 6 of us, let alone the rest needed for the reno, personal property reimbursement, and all bills that are now so far behind its at the point we're going to lose truly everything.

The kids don't understand why this happened to us, and any and all comfort items have been lost to them so they're having an extremely difficult time with it.

We are never the ones to ask for a handout, but at this point pride is not important. The children are what we are thinking of the most during this situation, and we would rather put pride aside and pray for help.

I am requesting the minimum amount required to get our home in a "liveable" state just so we can at least get back into the home, have some basic furniture like mattresses, some necessities like clothes, and start over.

As far as personal property goes we're less concerned with that or to even get the home fully finished. We simply want to get the plumbing finished, the drywall in, the ceiling fixed, and the flooring in, the painting done, and back in the home. Anything else we will get back in time.

We truly appreciate any and all assistance. This includes sharing the fundraiser on any social media accounts you may have. Likely that's all it takes sometimes is the right person sharing the story.

I also don't expect anyone to donate that is having a tough time as well.

Please don't donate if your need is just as great, save every penny you can for you and yours.

But if you are in a position to assist in some small way it is so very much appreciated.

You all have no idea just how much it means to us to get back into some sense of normalcy.

Thank you so very much. And I will provide updates and pictures through the process. Any and all funds will only go to the renovation costs, temporary housing, and if by chance we manage to collect more than the renovation costs it would only go to getting some personal property items back. If we still managed to gather more after that we would give back to others in need as well.

Bless you all, and thank you all..