Vermont Flood Recovery for Jae & Brynn & Krista

**Update 8.2.23**

Vermont Flood Relief Chronicles, Entry 6: One goal down, 2537890 to go ❤️

WE HIT OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL! This is exciting news and gave everyone a moment of celebration, amidst an ongoing marathon of repair, work, and recovery. This is all possible because of you (the ones reading this), and we are so grateful. Every little bit helps, and in this case, it was a bit from 271 people! Truly amazing! Thank you, kind humans!

Now that 3 weeks have passed since the flood, Jae & Brynn and others in Vermont who lost so much in the disaster are seeing the work laid out in front of them: a marathon with the goal of recapturing stability and rebuilding a home. Because Jae & Brynn are living with us, Lisa and I are witness to the endless intellectual and emotional and physical labor they are constantly putting into their recovery: non-stop phone calls, multiple spreadsheets, so many applications, forms, paperwork, documentation, contractors, electricians, plumbers, FEMA representatives, insurance representatives, town and city and state representatives, volunteers, meetings, new emergencies, unexpected problems, mold abatement, mud scooping, cleaning, shoveling, dehumidifying, very consequential life decisions in times of uncertainty… the list of what they are managing is hard to describe in a way that accurately captures what we see them doing every day. And, they somehow manage to be amazing house guests and friends all throughout this disaster.

Today’s pictures include Olive (one of the four stooges in our pack right now) trying to eat the eggs in our game of Wingspan, Brynn with the neighbors' mailbox, and a rainbow that appeared over Vermont this week. Although we know the work is just getting started, and there is more to do, the rainbow was a nice symbol of hope.

When in doubt, turn to nature. ️‍❤️

From Jae:

“Hey all: it’s Jae here. I’m so overwhelmed that I don’t even know where to begin! I can’t imagine how I’ll ever adequately express my gratitude to the TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE people who helped us reach our fundraising goal. This has been one of the hardest and most humbling experiences of my life, but being surrounded by all of this love and support has made it so much more bearable.

It has been such a joy to see the names of people I’ve been in community with at various points in my life pop up on the donor list. Please know that I’ve taken a moment to think fondly of every single one of you. Even if we haven’t spoken in ages, your support means the world to me, and I’m forever grateful to know you. <3 To those of you who I don’t have the privilege of knowing: your kindness and generosity and willingness to help strangers in need speaks volumes to me. I’m equally full of gratitude for your contributions.

Your support has helped us move forward with picking up the pieces of our lives as we wait for additional aid from FEMA and our insurance company. This fundraiser has helped us replace items we need to meet our basic needs, get a mold abatement specialist, plumber, and electrician to our house, and ensure that Krista has enough money for a security deposit on a new place to live. None of this would have been possible without your help.

From the bottom of my heart: thank you, thank you, thank you." -Jae

Thank you for donating already, friends! If you have the capacity, it would still be helpful if you could share this fundraiser on your social media and in your spheres of influence. We are raising the goal soon to honor the resources Jae & Brynn will continue to need to keep up with their emergency expenses right now.

Share this GoFundMe on Social Media: https://gofund.me/ecac534e

Share Jae & Brynn’s Amazon wish list on social media: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1WV0F08ZFJ03C?ref_=wl_share

❤️️‍️‍

-Hannah

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**UPDATE** 7/24/23

Vermont Flood Chronicles, Entry 5: Clean up, hope, and an actual dumpster fire.

CLEAN UP: Crews of humans continue to show up at Jae & Brynn’s home (which did *not* flood during the 2011 Irene disaster, by the way) to help move large appliances into the dumpsters, dig debris buried in inches of mud out of the garden, shovel piles of debris and mud from the garage, and other remaining clean up chores. The cars have been towed (they had so much mud in them that a key would not go in the ignition). Multiple dumpsters have been filled and hauled away. The driveway has been filled in and graded.

Update from Jae: “Losing everything is a deeply humbling experience. Relying on the kindness of others to meet your basic survival needs is not fun, and it’s given me a lot more empathy for people who live like this regularly. Navigating social services is nearly a full time job in and of itself. The initial cleanup is almost done; our house is fully gutted and everything we once owned has been hauled away in a dumpster. We’re still a week or two out from learning how much our insurance company will offer us to rebuild, and then the next wave of work will begin in earnest.”

HOPE: On this day, two weeks after the day of #VTFLOOD23, we have nearly reached our fundraising goal for Brynn & Jae & Krista (!). The response to this flood disaster, across Vermont, and also in our immediate chosen family, has given us all hope for our community and its sustainability. In research about community resilience to climate change, local place-based networks being able to rely on each other for resources in short notice and in the long term are key to overcoming shock, managing long-term stressors, and getting through climate disasters together. We have witnessed a response in Vermont that demonstrates multiple characteristics of a sustainable community: local knowledge/resource sharing; diverse institutional action at multiple scales; neighborhood volunteerism; etc.. All of these factors help communities build trust and get through these challenges together (there is a lot of peer-reviewed research about this if anyone would like to read). We’re devastated by all of the loss, but heartened by the community response. We *WILL* get through this.

AN ACTUAL DUMPSTER FIRE: This photo in today’s update (photo credit @nato_kinney) was taken in front of Jae & Brynn’s next door neighbor’s house. One of the clean up crew's trucks caught fire as they were ditching appliances. You can’t make this stuff up, friends.

Thank you for donating already! If you have the capacity, it would be helpful if you could share this fundraiser to help us make it to our goal:

Share this GoFundMe on Social Media: https://gofund.me/ecac534e

Share Jae & Brynn’s Amazon wish list on social media: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1WV0F08ZFJ03C?ref_=wl_share

Thank you, dear humans. ❤️

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**UPDATE** 7/18/23 Different needs today than yesterday.

Vermont Flood Chronicles, Entry 4:

Friends and community, your generosity is truly heart warming. Thank you for helping us get so close to our goal!

I titled this update “Different needs today than yesterday” because at the start of this chaos, we predicted the GoFundMe donations would be needed for immediate necessities, like toiletries and clothes, etc. Those items were needed, but as it turns out, that was a small percentage of the needs. Most of the GoFundMe money, as it turns out, is being spent on services to save the house and basement.

Your donations right now are going towards these items, which are needed in large quantity:

If you are interested in helping Jae & Brynn recover basic house hold items (those are still needs!), they have created an Amazon wish list here: Amazon Wish List

Thank you for donating! If you have the capacity, it would also be helpful if you could:

Thank you, friends! ❤️ Every little bit helps.

Update from Brynn:

“As the initial shock of the last week has started to wear off, and as I have slowly begun to reestablish connection to the world outside of #floodland, the one thing that is clear is that our survival (both personal and collective) is contingent on being able to ask for help and lean on our community, even when it feels so unfair because we have literally nothing to give in return other than gratitude.

The kindness and compassion of friends, family, neighbors, and complete strangers continues to overwhelm me. To be perfectly honest, it’s kind of the only thing anchoring me and giving me hope. We have weeks and months of uncertainty ahead of us as we continue to pick up the pieces and then figure out how to start over from scratch, with absolutely no idea how long it will be before we have a house that’s habitable again.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who has reached out with well wishes, compassion, resources, and offers of help.

You best believe that when something like this happens again in our community, I will also show up at your front door and help you shovel buckets of muddy water out of your home.

Please consider sharing it across your networks if you are able! Thank you. " -Brynn

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*UPDATE 7/14/23* The hard work has begun!

Whew, Friends! What a whirlwind of chaos these few days have been. I want to share a giant THANK YOU and some heartfelt GRATITUDE for the generosity y’all have shown on this fundraiser. It is entirely heart warming– and we are more than halfway to our goal! Amazing!

Jae & Brynn & Krista have been at the house yesterday and today to assess the damage, salvage (a very few) items, document the chaos, and support the clean up. The scope of the damage is truly overwhelming. Almost everything in the house is ruined. We consistently hear from volunteers who stop by that their house was hit the worst in all of Johnson. There is so much work ahead.

The good news is that the community of humans who have shown up to help has been truly astounding. Lisa & Elaine & Avery have been leading and organizing the clean up, Nora is helping with FEMA and support applications, Jo & Loran are giving Binx much-needed love, Hannah & Sarah are on food, dog, & laundry duty, neighbors are showing up with trucks and trailers and muscles to drag out damaged items and haul away debris, kind Vermonters are donating pet food, meals, farm fresh eggs (!), strangers from afar are donating home goods, family members and loved ones are pooling resources and offering support. The list goes on and on. It is truly an amazing community of humans we have here.

This is an update from Jae:

“Hi friends: I write with an update from FloodLand.

We were able to get back into our house late Tuesday evening, and we’ve spent the last two-ish days assessing the damage and navigating the executive functioning hellscape that is living through a natural disaster. (On that note: if you’ve reached out to me and I haven’t replied, I’m so sorry! I’m doing the best I can to keep up, but it’s a lot.)

The bad news is that our house is severely damaged, and almost everything we own is trashed. Several people have told us that our house got hit harder than almost any other house they’d seen. When we were able to get back in, our floor was covered in a thick layer of mud and our things were strewn everywhere. There were pieces of furniture that were in different rooms than the ones they started in.

The good news is that our whole family made it out of the house safely and we’re all warm and dry and alive.

The other good news is that we’ve received so much love and care and support from people that the heroes of this tragedy are too numerous to tag. Friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers have shown up for us in ways that I’ll never be able to repay. I spend nearly every minute overwhelmed with gratitude for the community I’ve built and the community I live in.

So I guess the thesis here is: this is terrible and I hate it, but also I feel like one of the luckiest people alive right now.” -Jae

Friends: please share this fundraiser on your social media if you can. It will help us reach our goal! Thank you, everyone. You’re the best. ❤️

https://gofund.me/ecac534e

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***UPDATE 7/12/23: THE CAT IS OK!!***

Jae & Brynn have been able to get back to the house, and the Binx the cat managed to survive a very terrifying 24 hours by hiding in a tiny space in the ceiling. Although he was quite shaken up, they managed to coax him down and he is now safe in a dry house (but still trying to climb to the highest spot, poor dear). ❤️ ‍

Binx is a survivor! This is great news! What is also great news is that all of you kind people are being so amazingly generous with this GoFundMe. Thank you. ❤️

This means a lot to them, especially because we learned (not great news) that J&B's flood insurance has a $10,000 deductible, and after that is met, it only covers structural repair; it doesn't cover replacement of appliances, furniture, home goods, etc. This means they will have to apply for emergency funding even to meet the deductible and help with replacing items, and that could take a while.

After seeing the house, there is a better sense of the damage: the basement is entirely full of water, there is a 2-inch layer of mud throughout the home (see footprints in the picture above), all furniture and appliances are destroyed (there is an entire toilet in the bedroom), the cars were floating and are spread across the lawn (which is now covered in mud and debris). Seeing the damage and learning about the insurance, we have a better sense of the need, so we are raising our funding goal. Your donations right now are *so very* important to them as they navigate the FEMA application and insurance systems and state support in the short-term and figure out how to get what they need in the long-term.

Your donations right now are going towards:

Thank you so much, friends! Your generosity is warming our hearts. Every little bit helps ❤️

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Original Post 7/11/23

Hello friends and family! We are asking for emergency help for our friends Jae & Brynn who live in Johnson, Vermont (and Krista, who was staying with them temporarily). They were just evacuated from their home in an emergency flood situation. The water entered their home from the nearby river in the early hours of Tuesday morning 7/11/23, when they called 911; the water rose so quickly inside their home that they were unable to save all of their pets; they were also unable to gather essential belongings before they were rescued.

This photo of their house was taken by Jae as they were being evacuated in the front of a tractor. Brynn, Jae, and Krista made it out with their 3 dogs safely, but were unable to reach the cat who was hiding in the rafters. At this point, there was a threat of electric shock because their refrigerator was floating and smoking, and they had to leave everything behind, including Binx, their cat.

Who is ok: Jae & Brynn made it out with their dogs, Olive (the face in the photo) & Maeby. Krista made it out with her dog Murph.

Who didn't make it out: Binx, the cat, was scared and climbed into the rafters of the house, and Jae & Brynn were unable to reach Binx during the evacuation. They only had room in their arms for the dogs, and so they had to leave Binx all other belongings behind, including their "go bags," which were too close to the smoking refrigerator to risk going back for, so they lost their phones, wallets, computers, clothes, shoes, medicine, etc.

We are, of course, glad that our friends and their pets are alive and that they got out safely. However, as you can see from the photograph, their cars are underwater, their house is chest-deep in water, and their belongings are floating inside the house. The recovery from this will be incredibly expensive and slow, even with flood insurance and help from FEMA. Financial assistance will help them get through this trauma and work to rebuild their lives. Immediately they need to buy dry clothes and shoes to wear, toiletries, and pet food, and as recovery continues they will need to replace all of their essentials and necessities.

Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated! All funds donated will go directly to Jae & Brynn's bank account for them to use as they recover from this emergency. They lost their phones, computers, cars, clothes, furniture, pet food, and all other things.

Thank you, friends! ❤️ Every little bit helps.