Help Brenda rebuild her house (complete fire loss)
Donation protected
Brenda has had a rough 7 years! Now her house has burned to a complete loss, and her insurance is short $25K to rebuild the same modest 2 bdrm, 1 bath home on the same footprint as her previous home. Will you offer this caring and generous person a hand-UP? (All money will go toward helping Brenda get back into her home.)
Firefighters had to break into all ceilings and spray water to put out the fire. Water and smoke damage ruined whatever the fire missed.
Read on for Brenda’s story:
Seven years ago Brenda’s husband, Randy, was diagnosed with ALS. He had to end his career with Kansas Fish & Game Department soon after, and accept reduced pay disability. Brenda was faced with re-entering the workforce after being a stay-at-home mom and homeschool teacher to their three daughters for 21 years. She accepted a job at the local grocery store 8 miles away. She was Randy’s sole caregiver throughout the 5 years he battled ALS. She came home from work at noon, made his lunch/fed him and then drove back for the remainder of her shift. When she arrived back home at the end of her work day, she took care of all of the things he needed, but couldn’t do for himself.
After Randy passed away in June 2017, Brenda continued her job at the grocery store (which she still relies on for income.) Only 9 months later, she fell in the shower and broke her leg. She was off work for 6 months while her leg healed. Then the doctors decided she needed surgery on her knee (of the leg she had broken.) She had that surgery in January and was off work until this March. It has really been a hardship for her to have missed so much work during these last two years.
On March 20th, just when she was back to work and things started looking up for Brenda, her house burned to a complete loss from an electrical fire. She is currently living at a friend’s house while hers is being rebuilt. This describes her last 7 years!
The financial situation:
Brenda is too young for Social Security and Medicare, and only receives 1/2 of Randy’s monthly retirement after his death.
A loan to rebuild the house is not an option. The payments would be too much on her already overburdened budget.
The insurance situation:
They had a base package homeowners insurance policy set up to suit their financial situation at the time. It apparently had not been updated for a few years to reflect today’s prices. She is rebuilding a 1100 sq ft home on the same footprint of her previous home. There is nothing extravagant or out of the ordinary making up the cost of reconstruction. In fact, family members and friends have stepped in to help where they are able with plumbing, flooring, painting, etc.
In addition, her homeowner’s policy was not set up for replacement value of contents either, so during the upheaval of finding temporary housing, she and her daughters had to make a 25 page handwritten list of everything in the house and what they had paid for it. Since many items had been purchased at the lowest price possible at the time (15-20 years) ...you can imagine that she isn’t going to receive too much from insurance on the contents to replace furniture, clothing, housewares, etc)
For now, she is just focusing on getting the house rebuilt. I’m asking this for Brenda, because she would never ask for it herself. She is a generous and caring person who always does for others. All donated funds will be directly deposited into Brenda’s account at Denison State Bank. If you prefer to mail a donation check, you can send it to her bank in her name. The bank address is: Denison State Bank, P.O. Box 288, Meriden, KS. 66512.
If you can help, I can assure you, she will appreciate it many times over. I pray God will bless you for any amount you can donate to help Brenda.
Firefighters had to break into all ceilings and spray water to put out the fire. Water and smoke damage ruined whatever the fire missed.
Read on for Brenda’s story:
Seven years ago Brenda’s husband, Randy, was diagnosed with ALS. He had to end his career with Kansas Fish & Game Department soon after, and accept reduced pay disability. Brenda was faced with re-entering the workforce after being a stay-at-home mom and homeschool teacher to their three daughters for 21 years. She accepted a job at the local grocery store 8 miles away. She was Randy’s sole caregiver throughout the 5 years he battled ALS. She came home from work at noon, made his lunch/fed him and then drove back for the remainder of her shift. When she arrived back home at the end of her work day, she took care of all of the things he needed, but couldn’t do for himself.
After Randy passed away in June 2017, Brenda continued her job at the grocery store (which she still relies on for income.) Only 9 months later, she fell in the shower and broke her leg. She was off work for 6 months while her leg healed. Then the doctors decided she needed surgery on her knee (of the leg she had broken.) She had that surgery in January and was off work until this March. It has really been a hardship for her to have missed so much work during these last two years.
On March 20th, just when she was back to work and things started looking up for Brenda, her house burned to a complete loss from an electrical fire. She is currently living at a friend’s house while hers is being rebuilt. This describes her last 7 years!
The financial situation:
Brenda is too young for Social Security and Medicare, and only receives 1/2 of Randy’s monthly retirement after his death.
A loan to rebuild the house is not an option. The payments would be too much on her already overburdened budget.
The insurance situation:
They had a base package homeowners insurance policy set up to suit their financial situation at the time. It apparently had not been updated for a few years to reflect today’s prices. She is rebuilding a 1100 sq ft home on the same footprint of her previous home. There is nothing extravagant or out of the ordinary making up the cost of reconstruction. In fact, family members and friends have stepped in to help where they are able with plumbing, flooring, painting, etc.
In addition, her homeowner’s policy was not set up for replacement value of contents either, so during the upheaval of finding temporary housing, she and her daughters had to make a 25 page handwritten list of everything in the house and what they had paid for it. Since many items had been purchased at the lowest price possible at the time (15-20 years) ...you can imagine that she isn’t going to receive too much from insurance on the contents to replace furniture, clothing, housewares, etc)
For now, she is just focusing on getting the house rebuilt. I’m asking this for Brenda, because she would never ask for it herself. She is a generous and caring person who always does for others. All donated funds will be directly deposited into Brenda’s account at Denison State Bank. If you prefer to mail a donation check, you can send it to her bank in her name. The bank address is: Denison State Bank, P.O. Box 288, Meriden, KS. 66512.
If you can help, I can assure you, she will appreciate it many times over. I pray God will bless you for any amount you can donate to help Brenda.
Organizer and beneficiary
Paula Jennings Klinksick
Organizer
Denison, KS
Brenda Whiteaker
Beneficiary
