Hurricane Sandy Victims

My name is Kiel Russo and I've started this account on behalf of my family. I am the youngest sibling of 5 and my parents have been together for 35 years. We were unfortunately the victims of 2 big disasters over the last 3 years. In October of 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the shore of NJ about a quarter of a mile from my families home. At that time my parents, my older brother and sister, her boyfriend and my 4 month old nephew were all living in our house. We were forced to evacuate to my sister Alyssa's apartment to take shelter from the storm. We had no idea the damage that occurred until my dad, Alyssa and myself visited our home the next day. The storm completely flooded our home, surging 6 feet of river and ocean water inside, throwing our belongings from side to side and ruining pictures, keepsakes and memories of what our home used to be. As we walked through our home, looking at all the damage Sandy had caused, I had no words to comfort my father as he stood in tears.

As devastated as we were, we applied for all the proper funding to help get our house back to its original state. We were introduced to a company that was repairing an apartment complex nearby and was "looking for a family to help". Little did we know when the large black SUV's pulled up to our home, Lawrence Taylor would step out along with the head engineer, head contractor and main representative of the company. Seeing such a big celebrity vouch for this company really gave us hope that our home would be restored. They made promises that day, telling us we would once again be spending Christmas in the home we always had. Unfortunately that was the first of many broken promises that ended in disappointment. When people are in need, some see your vulnerability and decide to take advantage of that. This company came in fast and strong, working steadily at first and gaining my parents trust. As the insurance money came in, they continuously turned that over to the company in order to keep the job moving forward. All that stopped when the insurance company notified my parents that they had to lift the home with the new flood regulations. The company assured us that they would not only recommend someone to do the lift flawlessly but they would be back to finish their part of the job that we had already paid them for in full. This is where the 2nd disaster begins.

After speaking with several companies about the lift of our home, my parents thought it was best to work with the contractor that the company recommended, especially because he was also the head foreman in the original construction. My parents applied for a loan on their home in order to pay for the lift. He started the lift and before we knew it my parents were receiving calls from trusted neighbors and friends we had lived next door to for decades, telling them the house had been dropped. This guy continuously lied to my parents even after dropping the house a second time and damaging the home beyond what the storm had done. After partially collapsing our home, he tried to cover it up by fraudulently ripping down failed inspection stickers and never checking with our architect or city officials in order to move forward with construction. After all this he even tried to charge my parents double for the additional work he had caused during the collapse. When my parents refused to pay the extra money, he walked off the job and they knew it was time to bring the original company back in. Unfortunately that company changed their tune fast, forgetting their original promise and decided their part of the job was now done even though they only completed a third of the work after being paid in full.

These crooks ran off with all of our insurance money and left us with a house beyond repair and completely unlivable. My hard working parents, each working 2 jobs, have been forced to rent a home, paying for all the expenses that go along with that along with still keeping up a mortgage for the last 2 and a half years. Our family is one of hard workers who wants nothing more than to move past the stress and devastation this has caused us over the last 3 years. We have been given a grant by the state with the stipulation that we demolish and rebuild our home, essentially starting from scratch all over again. Unfortunately the amount of the grant will in no way cover the cost to make our house a livable home again. This is where your help really comes in. We are asking for donations of any kind, big or small, every little bit helps. Thank you so much for any help you may be able to give us. Every penny will help towards my family being able to create new memories. Please give all you can to help us move on.

Thank you all for your support.