Hurricane Help For Firefighter Joe Zuzchik Family

This fundraiser is for Joseph Zuzchik, Heather Morilla Stahlman and their two sons, Joseph Stahlman and Dominic Zuzchik.

We have devastating flood damage from Hurricane Ian. Most of our property has been damaged and destroyed. It could take months to rebuild. Any amount given will be more than appreciated. Every penny donated will go directly to anything and everything you can possibly imagine that we need in this very moment while having long waiting periods on adjusters and hopefully fema to help. We lost about 90% of everything we own. I’m currently writing this in the middle of my lawn, in the one spot I’m getting decent cell service, which is our new livingroom on lawn chairs. We thank you a million times over for taking the time to be so considerate and generous. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

I’ve described our story below for anyone interested in hearing more.

The story - Our city, Port Orange, was in the direct path of Hurricane Ian, one of the most destructive storms to hit Florida, and it affected us tremendously, even as we sat on the east coast.

Heather prepared for two weeks prior and is exhausted. We all are but at some point during her preparations she said “Joe, this one feels different”. Unfortunately, she was right! We were nonstop running around gathering essential supplies, sandbagging, preparing the generator, searching for propane for the grill, and the list goes on. What we did not expect was our home and neighborhood to turn into a raging river. Our flooding started at 6:00am Thursday morning.

Having no idea how devastating this would be, I left for my 24 hour work shift at 5:30am that morning. I got a few blocks away from home and had to turn around. The streets starting to flood and trees were down blocking me from leaving our neighborhood. On the way back I saw the power go out and street lights turn off. I could see the water quickly rise from some of the drains and sewers. The rain fall was absolutely relentless as well. Before I could get home, the water was up to the hood of my car. I prayed to just make it back. Thankfully I did.

I ran in the front door and saw Heather already awake. She received a panicked text from a good friend and neighbor saying their family was already up to their ankles in flood water inside the home. We spent the next 30 minutes grabbing everything we could salvage and save downstairs and, immediately brought it upstairs.

We grabbed our pets, bread and water, whatever photos we had hanging on the wall. We grabbed whatever we thought we’d need in that very moment. It was no longer about our preparations for weathering our typical power outages after a storm, it was now survival time and whatever we needed to survive in the moment is what we grabbed.

Heather yelled for me to get the life jackets out of the garage. I had no idea what I was about to walk into when I opened the interior garage door. The water was almost waist deep and everything we owned was already floating. Every tool I own, my deceased fathers tools, the generator, air compressor, cabinets and contents in them, all my tool boxes were now floating in dirty flood/sewer water.

I quickly grabbed the jackets and ran back inside. By the time I got back inside the water was seeping through the walls where the foundation meets. Within 20 minutes it was up to the first step to our staircase leading upstairs. We hunkered down upstairs and for the remainder of the storm which lasted all day long. We listened and watched the relentless wind and rain around our home.

We each packed a garbage bag with clothes and pet food in case we had to escape out of windows. We prayed all day long. Our phones still worked for the first half of the day. Heather responded to more text messages than I can count from local friends desperate to escape their homes. Some did leave but only made it so far in flood water before climbing out of vehicle windows to escape. We watched friends and neighbors kayaking to safety all day long from our window wondering if they would survive and If we were next.

We are very grateful to God to be alive!

After the storm - We could not get out of the neighborhood for a few days. We are just now getting decent cell phone service but it is spotty. We both apologize to anyone who’s tried to contact us but has yet to hear from us. We might not be able to receive texts or call you yet. It seems selective and spotty when we’re home.

We are in survival mode right now for our home and family so please be patient and bare with us. We are working around the clock to try to salvage what’s left and prevent any mold that can spread. At times we are taking shifts and turns working and sleeping.

Right now - We have spent days working around the clock throwing 90% of our belongings to the curb. We are now making separate piles of household items and building debris in the front yard. We cannot thank our friends enough who came out this week to bring us fresh water, a dump trailer, and straight up man power. That is what we needed. We are ripping sheet rock out left and right. We also want to thank anyone who parked at the beginning of our neighborhood and walked to us in dirty flood water to do well checks on us after the storm.

A flood is different than just a hurricane, we now know. It’s an entirely different animal. Most of what we have worked our lives for is currently spread across our front lawn. We have had confrontations with random people pulling up with trailers, coming from all different states around the country, cherry picking and rummaging through our belongings and trash bags creating more of a mess, despite signs we’ve placed outside on the yard. It is beyond frustrating.

We’ve felt like a tourist attraction at times. This was especially hard in the beginning when we still had no ice and basic goods. Watching truck loads of spectators driving by for days to video record our entire lives sitting outside or at the curb, not offering help, just driving by, or causing wakes in the water, further pushing more water inside, is something we’ll never forget.

All the floors, doors, baseboards, insulation, furniture, electronics, appliances, base cabinets and everything inside them are gone. We are patiently waiting our turn in line for the professionals to come through here. Most sentimental and irreplaceable things are gone. We can not replace these. The well pump that feeds the AC isn’t working. All of our food is gone so we’re eating out when we stop working at the house. Temporary housing that is near our home would be wonderful but hotels are limited and scarce right now. We are constantly at Lowe’s and Home Depot like never before. Garbage bags, storage bins for anything salvageable, canopy’s for shade, shelving units, dehumidifiers and the list goes on. We are literally gutting our entire house with the exception of two rooms upstairs that now smell due to the filthy flood water. We spent a few nights showering at beachside park showers. We are physically an emotional drained. Please be patient with us if we have not called you. We promise we will get back to everyone reaching out and concerned.

Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts.