Tim & Gwen Shank and family
Donation protected
Hello all!
Heather and I are requesting your immediate and long-term consideration, prayers, and gifts for our brother and sister (and friends to many of you), Tim and Gwen Shank.
Many of you have helped so much in so many ways for which we and they are so thankful!
Sadly, the house they moved to in Lexington to escape the toxic mold environment of the middle valley area also has recently developed major mold issues due to water leaks! It has been partially remediated and is being treated again, but their severely ill children are continuing to have life threatening health responses when they go in the house. Clearly, they can no longer live in this place.
Once again, they find themselves in the midst of trying to find a safe place and to gain resources to support their family. Living only gets more expensive while they stay in hotels and Air BnB’s, etc. As you know, food that is not home prepared becomes extremely expensive.
They are being immediately provided for by their church family so that, while they feel the destitute nature of their situation, they have food and temporary hotel housing that is generally safe. The little kids especially are really struggling with the cooped up nature of hotel living (though the pool was fun initially).
And, Tim and Gwen are having to do the hard work again of deciding what they want/need to keep of their mold-infested belongings and what is simply lost this second time around. If you’ve had a house fire or severe water or mold damage to goods than you can understand to some degree the exhausting and overwhelming nature of this kind of loss.
One of Tim and Gwen’s first priorities is to find safe housing. So far, this has been a very elusive pursuit and they are forcing themselves to think outside the box. They have briefly considered tent camping (not a good long term plan though could be fun for a week). They have considered buying or renting a travel trailer that they can verify is “clean”, they would be following a strict mold avoidance protocol, and potentially traveling West for a dryer climate. but again this will be temporary though it could be 3 to 6 months temporary which is better than only 1 week.
Long term, they really need a safe house to live in and begin to resettle. Due to the burden of caring for multiple children with severe illnesses, Tim has been out of paying work since November of last year. You might imagine how quickly financial stability of any kind is exhausted.
Tim and Gwen’s Chevy Suburban is also becoming way too small for their growing kids. The issue is that growing kids mixed with 3 car seats for the littles who are still so little that they require the car seats gets overwhelmingly tight with children so sick that OCD issues in the tight spaces get majorly magnified and become anxiety attacks. And, there’s also the issue of being able to buckle up easily.
Heather and I have encouraged Tim and Gwen to let us initiate a GoFundMe to ask others for assistance with these larger and long term needs. Minimally, the costs of caring for a family of 6 children and 2 adults is easily between $65 and $75k annually. Add in the crazy costs of medical expenses for seriously ill children and, even with insurance covering some of the bills, including out of pocket for expenses not covered by insurance: travel, doctor/hospital, medications, supplements, etc, their living expenses could easily exceed 100k annually.
Tim would love to return to work, but that would definitely require hiring another person to help care for the kids. And, now they also need a bigger vehicle!
They’ve thought through and talked through numerous other options with us and others who have been able to understand their particular situation enough to provide some good wisdom and direction. It simply comes down to Tim and Gwen needing your and our financial assistance for the next year, at least.
If you’d like more information and a little history of what Tim and Gwen have been living for a long time, check out their FB page 8crazyshanks.
Would you consider generously/sacrificially giving today out of that which you have been entrusted with?
$250 x 400 people = $100,000.
$100 x 1000 people = $100,000.
$50 x 2000 people = $100,000.
I’m reminded as I type in these numbers how easily and quickly we can help our neighbors with their overwhelming burden.
Will you answer “yes” to them and, while you’re giving financially, also pray? Pray that God will grow them in love and faith and encourage their hearts (the children’s hearts too), open an environmentally safe place for them, and provide a larger seating capacity vehicle for them?
Will you also share this post and GoFundMe on your pages and ask your friends?
Thank you for reading this to the end. Thank you for considering how you can help and thank you for giving of your blessings to bless others!
Heather and I are requesting your immediate and long-term consideration, prayers, and gifts for our brother and sister (and friends to many of you), Tim and Gwen Shank.
Many of you have helped so much in so many ways for which we and they are so thankful!
Sadly, the house they moved to in Lexington to escape the toxic mold environment of the middle valley area also has recently developed major mold issues due to water leaks! It has been partially remediated and is being treated again, but their severely ill children are continuing to have life threatening health responses when they go in the house. Clearly, they can no longer live in this place.
Once again, they find themselves in the midst of trying to find a safe place and to gain resources to support their family. Living only gets more expensive while they stay in hotels and Air BnB’s, etc. As you know, food that is not home prepared becomes extremely expensive.
They are being immediately provided for by their church family so that, while they feel the destitute nature of their situation, they have food and temporary hotel housing that is generally safe. The little kids especially are really struggling with the cooped up nature of hotel living (though the pool was fun initially).
And, Tim and Gwen are having to do the hard work again of deciding what they want/need to keep of their mold-infested belongings and what is simply lost this second time around. If you’ve had a house fire or severe water or mold damage to goods than you can understand to some degree the exhausting and overwhelming nature of this kind of loss.
One of Tim and Gwen’s first priorities is to find safe housing. So far, this has been a very elusive pursuit and they are forcing themselves to think outside the box. They have briefly considered tent camping (not a good long term plan though could be fun for a week). They have considered buying or renting a travel trailer that they can verify is “clean”, they would be following a strict mold avoidance protocol, and potentially traveling West for a dryer climate. but again this will be temporary though it could be 3 to 6 months temporary which is better than only 1 week.
Long term, they really need a safe house to live in and begin to resettle. Due to the burden of caring for multiple children with severe illnesses, Tim has been out of paying work since November of last year. You might imagine how quickly financial stability of any kind is exhausted.
Tim and Gwen’s Chevy Suburban is also becoming way too small for their growing kids. The issue is that growing kids mixed with 3 car seats for the littles who are still so little that they require the car seats gets overwhelmingly tight with children so sick that OCD issues in the tight spaces get majorly magnified and become anxiety attacks. And, there’s also the issue of being able to buckle up easily.
Heather and I have encouraged Tim and Gwen to let us initiate a GoFundMe to ask others for assistance with these larger and long term needs. Minimally, the costs of caring for a family of 6 children and 2 adults is easily between $65 and $75k annually. Add in the crazy costs of medical expenses for seriously ill children and, even with insurance covering some of the bills, including out of pocket for expenses not covered by insurance: travel, doctor/hospital, medications, supplements, etc, their living expenses could easily exceed 100k annually.
Tim would love to return to work, but that would definitely require hiring another person to help care for the kids. And, now they also need a bigger vehicle!
They’ve thought through and talked through numerous other options with us and others who have been able to understand their particular situation enough to provide some good wisdom and direction. It simply comes down to Tim and Gwen needing your and our financial assistance for the next year, at least.
If you’d like more information and a little history of what Tim and Gwen have been living for a long time, check out their FB page 8crazyshanks.
Would you consider generously/sacrificially giving today out of that which you have been entrusted with?
$250 x 400 people = $100,000.
$100 x 1000 people = $100,000.
$50 x 2000 people = $100,000.
I’m reminded as I type in these numbers how easily and quickly we can help our neighbors with their overwhelming burden.
Will you answer “yes” to them and, while you’re giving financially, also pray? Pray that God will grow them in love and faith and encourage their hearts (the children’s hearts too), open an environmentally safe place for them, and provide a larger seating capacity vehicle for them?
Will you also share this post and GoFundMe on your pages and ask your friends?
Thank you for reading this to the end. Thank you for considering how you can help and thank you for giving of your blessings to bless others!
Organizer and beneficiary
Heather Shank
Organizer
Mount Crawford, VA
Heather Shank
Beneficiary
