Help us recover from Helene Flooding in Ruskin, FL

My name is Nicole Wylie and I own No Streaking Professional Window Washing. We have been in business in the South Shore of Tampa Bay since 2007. We are Proud to be Woman-Veteran Owned, and I am a Service- Connected Disabled Marine Corps Veteran. This week, our property in Florida was flooded by Hurricane Helene. This area has not flooded in well over 100 years, yet we were not able to obtain insurance because it's a Flood Zone. We are applying for FEMA, but as a business, we might not get any funding. Our current concerns are that we will not be able to have our crews working because our vans need to be replaced with 3 used vans ASAP. Each day we are without them are days our crews cannot work, losing more money, and potentially our amazing crew. This is our livelihood. Without it we risk losing our home and more as well. We can't wait weeks for money that may not even come. Our vans were at an age that it didn't make sense to keep Comp and Collision on them, or so we were advised at one point. The water was 4 feet in our vans and in our office. The property contains 3 other small buildings, all flooded, 2 residential and 1 commercial and provided us with additional income that we have counted on. We, and the other 3 occupants will now be displaced due to the damage... at least for several months, unless we get money for the many repairs it need (ACs, Appliances, Hot Water tanks, remediation, etc.... 2 families and 2 businesses. That means this part of our income is also suddenly gone. Much of our equipment, supplies, electronics, furniture, and more had to be thrown to the curb and will have to be replaced. We have secured one van to help one crew work for this week, but it's not enough, and it's temporary. Several people count on us for their livelihoods as well...not just employees, but the small salon that rents space from us. One of my employees lives in the apartment behind the our office and he is now homeless and currently jobless....and a family of 4 rents another unit. At the very least we need to get vans so we can continue working so we can support our employees and their families, and work towards getting everyone back in as soon as possible.

I am not one to ask for help as I feel we've worked hard and are fortunate to have a good life, and others need it more. While this is true, this year has been very difficult for us, with many emergencies, health issues, and large expenses. I don't know how much more we can absorb, so I am reluctantly asking for help. While the goal I set is sadly a small fraction of what we will need to get everything back to good, and hopefully get our families back in too, this would be a good start. We can at least get some used vans, help get us into a new office or fix ours enough to use (kinda), and will help us replace some of our gear, supplies, PC, and keep our bills current in case we need to try for a loan. Hopefully we can get some help with FEMA to cover the rest. We are just devastated to be in this position....so much loss.

Every dollar helps. If you have a few extra and feel so inclined, we would greatly appreciate it. Anyone who know me knows what a VERY difficult ask this is for me, but I don't know what else we are going to do right now. Other things that have happened this year have given us limited resources right now. The timing couldn't be worse.

Thanks in advance