Help Roxy Rebuild After Hurricane Milton

Hi! I'm Roxy. Most of you already know me - and my Persian kitties, Ethereal Persians - and know why I'm making this GoFundMe. Hurricane Milton has been a nightmare! The destruction in our home was not catastrophic, but we are struggling to make ends meet to cover the cost of prep and to repair what has been broken.

And spoiler alert... I wish I could have told you this under different circumstances, but to understand the full scope of my emotional freak out... I'm pregnant (with my first child). Surprise!

Now more than ever, we need to fix our home, think positive, and move forward as best we can. We've received several generous offers from some of you amazing friends and kitty lovers to help us cover our loss. Initially, I was opposed, but after a few tears and with great gratitude, we make this GoFundMe.

Now, I can imagine that some of you may want a summary of our spending and loss, even if just for curiosity. So below is one, but know your donation means a lot more than a simple dollar amount. Your support, however much you can spare, ignites a light deep within me that shines and gives me strength to move forward. And inadvertently, you're also supporting about 35 kitties we currently have, love, and care for in our home; many of which I can only assume you know of and love too.

Anyways, to prep for this monster storm:

- Plywood. So much plywood! We purchased 25 sheets of plywood at almost $30 each. Total sticker shock at first. But nobody can say we didn't board up! In all seriousness, we think it kept the roof of our lanai on. Just 15 minutes away, my mother lost part of her roof to the storm. Maybe she should have gone wood crazy like us.

- More wood - many 2 by 4s to secure our wooden fence. Half our property fence is 8 ft of windbreak! No kidding! We added extra support to each post, but Milton still ripped through it like it was butter! It broke in 6 different spots. That's a lot of time and effort to rebuild, plus more wood! Our cats are the most impacted by this destruction because this puts the kitty garden out of order! They cannot sunbathe or chase lizards to their hearts' content. They are acting miserable! They have been hoarding by the door and yelling at me to let them out every day!

- A generator. At last, we could not survive without this. We own 3 deep freezers full of cat food. Together, they store about $5k worth of cat food or 1.5 months of food; we just made another batch right before the storm, so they're full. We can tolerate cold showers and cold meals after losing power, but not losing our cat food. Our old generator we purchased for Hurricane Irma in 2017 started when we lost power after Hurricane Helene. That was a big unexpected purchase of $850 towards prep.

Everything else we did to prep for the storm and continue to do for cleanup has no dollar amount because we've been using our time, effort, and preexisting resources. But mind you, we spent a full 3 days prepping for the storm, securing and picking up debris in the yard. We are now on day 2 of cleanup after the storm, and I'm glad we bought the backup generator because we have no power and the other one continues to malfunction.

Regarding repairs, I received a quote from a fencing company to replace our front fence, and it was no less than $15k. That is way out of our budget, especially with a baby on the way, so the boys (Jason and Julian) are fixing it as best they can.

Ultimately, the most important fence is the backyard fence because it encloses the kitty garden. We received a quote from a handy neighbor for about $1.5k for labor, plus the cost of material. As much as we'd rather pay someone else to fix the damages, we're financially struggling, so once again, Jason and Julian must do their best to fix it.

In total, we estimate a loss of at least $3k - $4k. I realize it could be soooo much worse! But we're not wealthy; we breed cats. That's practically our entire emergency fund (and I dearly hate admitting that). Breeding cats for a living has its pros, and financial security is not one of them.

So I ask you at a very uncertain and pivotal time in our life, do you have a dollar to spare?

If you're very tight on money too, I understand (so sorry) and can only hope that you too rise from the chaos and that you share this go fund me, please.

- Regardless, I will continue to love you and do my best to make you smile through my kitties.

Yours truly,

Roxy