Tabitha & Ed's Recovery Fund
Donation protected
On June 15th 2015 after searching for months, my fiancé and I closed on our very first house. We bought a 2 story, 4 bedroom house with a beautiful fenced in backyard for our rescue dogs to run in. When choosing a house perfect for us, we made sure to have a fully fenced in yard, and extra bedrooms in hopes of having enough extra room to foster animals.
On October 13th of 2015 around 1:30 in the afternoon I was visiting with my grandparents when I got a call from ny uncle that a house on my block was on fire and he thought it may be mine. I rushed home as fast as I possibly could, praying it was a mistake, unfortunately it wasn't. By the time I had gotten there the fire was already put out. I don't think I'll ever forget the first words out of my mouth when I got out of my car. 'I don't care about my house please just tell me my dogs are okay!' The response I got was 'some of them.' I was then walked over to 3 dogs laying under a white sheet, about 15 minutes later, they carried a 4th out the front door. I didn't know it was possible to be that hurt and heartbroken.
The firefighters on the scene told me my house had the worst smoke damage they'd ever seen, but thankfully the actual fire damage was contained to the kitchen. They believe an electrical short caused our microwave to catch fire about 12:45 PM, and the call came in about 1:04 PM. This day was the start of our now almost 4 month struggle to get our home and our life back.
Immediately after my fiancé arrived, he called to file an insurance claim. To our surprise, the customer service representative told us our policy was cancelled because even though we paid our premium, a year of insurance up front, they said they never recieved our signed terms of use (which we do have proof of sending). Next, we called our mortgage lender hoping that they'd have been informed of our policy cancellation because we were not. After some digging, they found that they were informed on 10/4/2015, and put no insurance on the property. Almost 4 months, 3 attorneys, and 4 moves later, we've still made no progress with our insurance or our mortgage company- neither are willing to help. We're trying to keep our heads above water, but we're paying our mortgage as well as rent to have a roof over our heads, and there has been so many unexpected expenses such as the bill for boarding up our house, cancellation fees of services we had at our house, buying all new necessities for ourselves and our surviving dogs, all the time that had to be taken off of work to grieve, try to figure out where we'd stay, and put our dogs to rest, the list goes on. Our house has sat for so long that our belongings aren't salvageable because the smoke smell is set in. We have had so many wonderful people reach out and offer us furniture that we need nothing there.
We did get in contact with Habitat for Humanity, as well as a local contractor who may be able to help. Habitat for Humanity isn't able to help with money because combined, we make more than the limit they're able to help with. However, they did say that labor and volunteers may be something they can help with. The contractor we had got in contact with estimated us $15,000-$18,000 in materials to make our home liveable again. We also need to oay to have a fire restorations company go in and actually write up what needs to be done to make it safe for us to live there. I don't need my home to be as nice as it was, I just want to be able to safely live there again.
Personally, I don't feel right asking for help because it's never been who I am, but I'm swallowing my pride reaching out to the community because I really can't save my home on my own.
Please, don't feel obligated to donate money if you already have or are in no position to. I understand completely, and prayers help too! So does sharing this. The further it reaches, the better chance we have of finding someone who may be able to help. Who knows, maybe it'll reach a contractor all the way in Colorado who accepts puppy kisses as a form of payment :)
http://www.waukeshanow.com/news/animals-die-in-waukesha-house-fire-b99596788z1-332755781.html?lc=Smart
On October 13th of 2015 around 1:30 in the afternoon I was visiting with my grandparents when I got a call from ny uncle that a house on my block was on fire and he thought it may be mine. I rushed home as fast as I possibly could, praying it was a mistake, unfortunately it wasn't. By the time I had gotten there the fire was already put out. I don't think I'll ever forget the first words out of my mouth when I got out of my car. 'I don't care about my house please just tell me my dogs are okay!' The response I got was 'some of them.' I was then walked over to 3 dogs laying under a white sheet, about 15 minutes later, they carried a 4th out the front door. I didn't know it was possible to be that hurt and heartbroken.
The firefighters on the scene told me my house had the worst smoke damage they'd ever seen, but thankfully the actual fire damage was contained to the kitchen. They believe an electrical short caused our microwave to catch fire about 12:45 PM, and the call came in about 1:04 PM. This day was the start of our now almost 4 month struggle to get our home and our life back.
Immediately after my fiancé arrived, he called to file an insurance claim. To our surprise, the customer service representative told us our policy was cancelled because even though we paid our premium, a year of insurance up front, they said they never recieved our signed terms of use (which we do have proof of sending). Next, we called our mortgage lender hoping that they'd have been informed of our policy cancellation because we were not. After some digging, they found that they were informed on 10/4/2015, and put no insurance on the property. Almost 4 months, 3 attorneys, and 4 moves later, we've still made no progress with our insurance or our mortgage company- neither are willing to help. We're trying to keep our heads above water, but we're paying our mortgage as well as rent to have a roof over our heads, and there has been so many unexpected expenses such as the bill for boarding up our house, cancellation fees of services we had at our house, buying all new necessities for ourselves and our surviving dogs, all the time that had to be taken off of work to grieve, try to figure out where we'd stay, and put our dogs to rest, the list goes on. Our house has sat for so long that our belongings aren't salvageable because the smoke smell is set in. We have had so many wonderful people reach out and offer us furniture that we need nothing there.
We did get in contact with Habitat for Humanity, as well as a local contractor who may be able to help. Habitat for Humanity isn't able to help with money because combined, we make more than the limit they're able to help with. However, they did say that labor and volunteers may be something they can help with. The contractor we had got in contact with estimated us $15,000-$18,000 in materials to make our home liveable again. We also need to oay to have a fire restorations company go in and actually write up what needs to be done to make it safe for us to live there. I don't need my home to be as nice as it was, I just want to be able to safely live there again.
Personally, I don't feel right asking for help because it's never been who I am, but I'm swallowing my pride reaching out to the community because I really can't save my home on my own.
Please, don't feel obligated to donate money if you already have or are in no position to. I understand completely, and prayers help too! So does sharing this. The further it reaches, the better chance we have of finding someone who may be able to help. Who knows, maybe it'll reach a contractor all the way in Colorado who accepts puppy kisses as a form of payment :)
http://www.waukeshanow.com/news/animals-die-in-waukesha-house-fire-b99596788z1-332755781.html?lc=Smart
Organizer
Tabitha Maier
Organizer
Waukesha, WI
