I need help to restore my hurricane damaged home and I'm looking to build resilience and hope and to maintain my independent living situation. I am a 74 year old, widowed and disabled from a painful spine disorder senior and in a wheelchair for the past two years.

After 28 years, my home is more than just a structure , it is my sanctuary. It is the home I bought, as a widow in 1998, as a place where I have built a life of memories. 2 years ago in 2024 Hurricane Milton hit and my sanctuary was devastated by two and a half foot of flood of sewage water destroying the drywall in my house all cabinets doors and floors and appliances and creating a emergency mold situation.

Everything I own was lost. I was forced to gut the house entirely, starting from scratch, with only my limited fixed income and the help of several volunteer groups like Samaritan's Purse and Team Rubicon to muck out the drywall etc with saws and put all my belongings and furniture into my backyard under tarps or the trash as some of it was broken and destroyed and some of its salvageable, but mostly not.

My journey since then has been a battle on two fronts the house and my health.

I live with a severe painful spinal condition that has left me wheelchair bound. By the grace of God I have a senior handyman, Jim, that is also severely disabled with throat cancer. Jim boards at my house and has helped me immensely, as my situation with my health has deteriorated since 2024.

Jim has been fighting a heroic battle against aggressive DBLC non-Hodgkin's throat cancer for three years. Despite being 67 and facing this and undergoing his fourth chemo therapy Jim has been the hands and heart behind our recovery for the house. He is a trained handyman.

As disabled people, we both live on severely strict fixed income and the cost of repairing the home is finnancially overwhelming. Although Jim's a very skilled master handyman, the supplies cost a lot of money. I have utilized all my credit up to $23,000 just to buy what I have gotten repaired, so far.

Starting with Hurricane Ian, in 2022, I was without a working bathroom for 3 years, as rust from seawater had eaten up the tub and drains and the whole bathroom had to be gutted and replaced. Unfortunately, the funding for the Ian disaster agency that was helping me with damages from this category four storm, Hurricane Ian (2022) was compromised by their disaster construction manager, who took $16,000 of charity grant money awarded for the bathroom, and left the work undone. The benefits disaster fraudster also did this to nine other people (it wasn't just me). I was without a bathroom for 3 years, as a disabled senior widow. It made it extremely difficult to bath etc and so when Milton came along and I got some FEMA money from that, for the flood, my handyman Jim finished the bathroom, (which had to be gutted) with most of my own funds and credit. I had to install grab-bars in the bathroom in order to use it due to my disability. Also I needed wheelchair clearance, so I had to adjust doorways at entrance and exit points.

The State of Florida is trying to prosecute this construction man for stealing government benefit funds. This a long, slow process and they have told me I am not the "victim", (the agency where he stole the money is the victim). And yet, the disaster agency said they're having a hard time helping me get any more disaster funds since my benefits were used up by the theft of this man. The State prosecutor informed me that this disaster construction man was very elusive and did not show his face to anyone of his nine plus victims.

Fast forward to Hurricane Milton, a category four storm, which destroyed our whole town and took out our hospital, I am stranded without resources and alongside of many other local victims in need, besides myself.

Hurricane Milton destroyed the complete interior of my house up to approximately 120,000 dollars worth of construction damages and personal property loss in 2024. The amount of Fema help did not address but a fraction of the problems and I was forced to charge for more supplies, in rush to fix as much as I could so that my house would remain habitable. Mold damage has a way of forcing immediate attention.

This being said, the bathroom was the biggest priority, as that is an area of vital need in any family home. However the bottom cabinets of the kitchen had flood damages and had to be gutted and has yet to be affordable to replace. We kept a small area of countertop around the sink which has warped. So far I have replaced the wall oven and the cabinets directly surrounding it, which cost me around $10,000 "on sale" from Home Depot and repaired "diy by the handyman". This is only about a fourth of what I need to make a working kitchen.

And being in the wheelchair makes it extremely difficult, as I have to adjust the new cabinets to an ADA standard and I'm the one designing this out of necessity. In order to get a replacement sink it is at least $1,000. Right now food is prepared on a rolling cart out of necessity.

I lost all my appliances and only was able to get a $500 dorm refrigerator which doesn't really meet my needs but is the best I can do right now. Also I'm having to replace all interior doors exterior doors from rust and flooring that was destroyed by water intrusion.

In addition some of the electrical outlets were replaced because they were low to the ground and of course also got water intrusion.

So far, the repair supplies added up to well over 30 to 40,000 dollars. To date, I have kept receipts and have at least 23,000 dollars in negative debt on just building supplies alone.

I bought my house 28 years ago so I could be safe and secure and although it wasn't a mansion, it was mine. I got a brain injury and paid cash for the house as it was a foreclosure, so I had repairs to do along the way.

Out of necessity, I was unable to acquire insurance so I have had to fix anything as I went.

General repairs on a foreclosed house are nothing, compared to the damage that you get from a category four hurricane, though.

I have put a lot of heart and soul into my house. My goal is to remain independent in my house as best I can.

I have looked at every angle for financial help and this is my last resort plea for finnancial help. I have investigated reverse mortgages, insurance policies and all other kinds of home equity agreements and none of them are able to help me. The problem is my house should appraise for a lot more than what it will and when a poor market high interest rates and hurricane damage I'm at a loss to get a fair financial agreement. With the current damages it would not pass an appraisal or inspection easily. Just to get started I need to replace the kitchen cabinet and sink to make it safe and secure. Also the cost of insurance which I am not financially prepared to meet would eat up any proceeds of the loan over the loan period leaving me with really no loan at all. Also since there is no regulatory cap on what insurance rates can be, I would risk foreclosure if I was unable to meet the demand of the new price each year on my fixed income which will not increase as much as the insurance rate will.

On income-based loans I fail and could not even qualify for SBA loans due to low oncome. USDA doesn't consider me an eligible as I live in the city limits. My debt to income ratio is so high that even though I would have to pay off some of my credit cards of funds I've already spent to repair my house out of the loan proceeds it would leave me with very little to continue. Getting a loan on a house that is still under construction is very difficult and also the appraisal process is expensive and difficult .

This has left me stranded as I am unable to work, so I don't have a lot of income potential. A lot of small loans are very inadequate and predatory.

Another factor is that I am a bit isolated due to my age and disability so my social network is very small and I'm having trouble trying to initiate GoFundMe crowdfunding that will reach the right amount of people to get some kind of support momentum.

I need a boost and I don't have the social network that I would need to get that boost and I'm coming here out of sheer desperation for finnacial your kind and generous much needed fonnancial help. I would also appreciate your prayers as I feel like God will carry me through this problem even if it does take a few years.

I need supplies, and sometimes labor, but much has been diy, by "Jim the handyman".

I'm asking for help and assistance to get the momentum going on my cause. I am a good citizen and I've lived in my home for 28 years without any problems other than budget, but now the hurricanes have pushed this issue over the edge and I am struggling to keep my house safe and secure. Any size donation would be much appreciated with heartfelt thanks and put to very good use to make my house strong again.

Can anybody help me out there? I will be glad to share pictures etc. Please help me spread the word circulate my need and pray for me if you can't donate.