Help Steph Wagner Rebuild

Hello, my name is Rick Wagner, and my wife, Peggy, and I are starting this fundraiser page on behalf of our daughter, Stephanie Wagner. Stephanie has spent most of her 21-year career as a labor and delivery nurse in New York City. And prior to COVID, she ran her successful private practice as an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant. She has worked very hard since 2015 when she started her business, EverLatching Love. Steph acquired equipment, supplies, marketing materials, etc. to effectively and successfully run her business. Half of her apartment in Harlem was taken over by EverLatching Love. In March 2020 Covid hit NYC, as we all know. Her business, which consisted of home visits with babies and families, was totally shut down for a while and was greatly impacted overall. She remained in NYC until December 2020 when her lease was up, and made it work by picking up other work, but with her pre-covid income greatly affected, she was forced to move. She moved in temporarily with us, her parents. This was devastating for her, but she realized that it would hopefully be short lived. Her plan was to go back to NYC hopefully once things settled down.

December of 2020 Stephanie packed up everything she owned, including her entire business, and moved in with us in Hawaii. This was a difficult time for her, as it changed everything in her life in unexpected and sudden ways moving half way around the world, but she had anticipated being back out on her own and relocating either back to New York City or elsewhere, within six months, to resume her life and business. However, after 6 months of living with us, she received another huge blow! She hired what she thought was a reputable moving and long-term storage company to pack her entire apartment, household goods, and business up and put in it in storage for six months, which she prepaid for. Her life of belongings was to be stored in a secured, air-conditioned warehouse in New Jersey. On the day of the move, December 17th, 2020, the movers gouged her with sudden revised estimates and bogus fees, which she was forced to pay, as she had to get out of her apartment, and she was vulnerable. Her entire apartment and business filled an 18-wheeler truck. The movers took her stuff and did not provide an exact address where her stuff was being stored, but again, just indicated that it would be in a warehouse in New Jersey. With everything packed up and gone in storage, and believed to be secure, she left New York on December 21, 2020 with just 3 suitcases and moved home.

This past July 2021, when she contacted the moving/storage company to inquire about her household goods in storage, and see about possibly extending the storage or moving her goods to another location, she was informed that her household goods had disappeared. Her entire life and business gone! She was told the unscrupulous company had supposedly gone out of business, and all of her stuff was gone and untraceable. This was devastating to her. Her entire life gone in an instant, and no one was accountable. After weeks of calling and emailing, to little avail, we finally reached the broker who had hired the unscrupulous movers, and they indicated that they would hunt for the missing goods. We also discovered that this sort of thing was a much bigger problem than just Stephanie’s, and that numerous people had been scammed like this and “ripped off” by these companies, especially during COVID. We sought recourse and the options were extremely limited. We did not know what to do.

After an exhaustive search, we finally found a lawyer that would take on her case. There is very little we can say about the case at this point; however, legal fees are costly. After months of work and preparation, Steph's case was officially filed on December 23, 2021 in the state of New York. In many ways, the case is just beginning and we have no idea how long the case will go on for. It has completely consumed Steph's life since July when she found out.

We have attempted to help her some financially, but it is difficult. We have attempted to do as much as we can, but now with the extended period of COVID, and the difficulty in trying to get results from the moving or storage company, we felt that we needed help from the community, and that a GoFundMe page was a necessary effort. This GoFundMe page is for money to pay legal fees for Stephanie, to help replace things lost that she worked her whole adult life to have, and to buy equipment and supplies to help eventually reestablish her business back 100%. It is extremely difficult and embarrassing for Stephanie to be in this position, and none of this is her fault in any way. It is a horrible series of events and circumstances, and she does not deserve any of this. She is a very hard worker, but feels like her whole world has crumbled in on her. Any donation you can make would be a huge help towards making her whole again and getting her, and EverLatching Love, back on their feet 100% eventually. Thank you so very much! -Rick & Peggy Wagner