Help Fred and Ardie Rebuild After Hurricane Milton

Hello! I am trying to raise some funds to help out long time family friends, Fred Wood and Ardeith "Ardie" Carter.

I've known Fred and Ardie for about 15 years. We met through mutual friends and they have grown to become part of the family. My mother and younger sisters live along side them (thankfully their RV/tiny homes were spared).

Their property is lovingly known as Dragonwood. It's been a space that they have loved and cherished for over 30 years and has hosted many weddings and hand fastings. Amongst the trees are pieces of art made by Fred himself, mostly welded sculptures, and then within their home are paintings he's done. Ardie is mostly chair and bed bound, cared for by Fred and occupies her time with her parakeet Houdini and their 3 small dogs: Bubba, Gypsy and Muggles.

They are elderly and like many others were negatively impacted by Hurricane Milton. They had many fallen trees in their yard, one of which landed on their mobile home's roof. These are of course things they are concerned for, but the biggest concern is that the power pole was knocked over. It is on their private property, so the city has stated that it is their responsibility to replace. We have gathered some estimates, and the cheapest we could run with is $8500 to replace the pole and run new wires. As you can see from the photo, we do currently have it "held" up with some pieces of scrap, but this is not a long term repair and likely a fire hazard they need to be able to get resolved as quickly as possible. The couple are in their 70s and 80s, and while they are "stubborn ol' Floridians", we do want them to have power ASAP. If we do get funds past the cost of the utility pole, additional funds will be used to repair the roof and remove other fallen trees.