Kaiser family needs help
Donation protected
On Sept. 28th my precious grandfather passed away. Two days later, my home was flooded and destroyed and me, my husband and our two little girls began an uphill battle we could never have foreseen. 
My grandfather was a retired law enforcement officer, I am a paramedic and my husband is a volunteer firefighter. We were planning to wear our uniforms for the funeral services, as is tradition, so we took our uniforms to the dry cleaners. We returned home an hour later to find 6 inches of water throughout our entire home. The main waterline to the house burst under our kitchen sink.
We were under the impression that our renters policy would cover things like food and living expenses in the event that something like this should happen, but we were either misinformed or we misunderstood. What we had was contents coverage and it was bare bones at best, with a high deductible. We would never have kept a policy with such limited coverage, given that we both held an insurance license for many years. We know the value of it. It was a huge oversight and a very costly mistake.
Our landlord immediately filed a claim and sought compensation for our living expenses under his homeowner's policy, knowing we were going to be displaced for a long while. He was only able to recover $35 dollars a day, which on our end, only applies to our rent and it will be prorated at the end of the month for the remainder of October's rent, for which we have already paid half and any left over amount will apply to November's rent, which will increase as our lease will renew next month.
As of right now, we are staying in the house with ripped out drywall, concrete floors, and only two beds for furniture, as everything else is crammed into the garage while we await demolition and repairs to begin. I have no means to store or prepare food, let alone wash dishes. All of our dishes and cookware is currently stored in the garage and our kitchen has no water or electricity at this time.
We are now two weeks into this mess and there is no end in sight. We have been given a hopeful guesstimate of two to three more weeks before everything is done.
Because of this we have been financially devastated. Our families have supported us and helped us as much as they can. Our friends have been there for us and we received help very quickly from a charity that supports paramedics from my agency, in times of crisis. I thought it was enough. I could never have imagined how devastating this was going to be. I would never have imagined that we would end up needing ten times more than what was already given to us.
We have drained our savings account, our emergency funds and our regular bank account, including credit cards. Both my husband and myself have had to take time off of work to rip out carpet, move furniture and empty out the house we have lived in for a decade. We've been blessed with helping hands along the way but unfortunately we have run out of resources.
In total, not including our regular monthly expenses, this incident has cost us $3,796. This includes one more week of the projected costs of food and additional childcare. We know there will be one more week beyond that, and possibly anywhere from one to three more weeks beyond that. The most we will recover from insurance is $500 dollars prorated to our rent, at some point in November.
My husband and I both work full time, as well as part time, to pay our bills and take care of our family. We have never taken a dime we did not earn in the 16 years we have been a family. We never thought we would be in this position. We're embarrassed to ask for any help. But we have to put pride aside and do what we have to do for our children. We are dangerously close to being put into a position that we would not be able to recover from. We are already in the position of being completely out of money and resources. For that reason, I am humbly asking for help.
Thank you for any help, prayers or just plain good thoughts you could send our way. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. But I can only hope to repay the kindness someday, should it be needed. God bless you all.
Humbly,
Tara and Erich Kaiser
My grandfather was a retired law enforcement officer, I am a paramedic and my husband is a volunteer firefighter. We were planning to wear our uniforms for the funeral services, as is tradition, so we took our uniforms to the dry cleaners. We returned home an hour later to find 6 inches of water throughout our entire home. The main waterline to the house burst under our kitchen sink.
We were under the impression that our renters policy would cover things like food and living expenses in the event that something like this should happen, but we were either misinformed or we misunderstood. What we had was contents coverage and it was bare bones at best, with a high deductible. We would never have kept a policy with such limited coverage, given that we both held an insurance license for many years. We know the value of it. It was a huge oversight and a very costly mistake.
Our landlord immediately filed a claim and sought compensation for our living expenses under his homeowner's policy, knowing we were going to be displaced for a long while. He was only able to recover $35 dollars a day, which on our end, only applies to our rent and it will be prorated at the end of the month for the remainder of October's rent, for which we have already paid half and any left over amount will apply to November's rent, which will increase as our lease will renew next month.
As of right now, we are staying in the house with ripped out drywall, concrete floors, and only two beds for furniture, as everything else is crammed into the garage while we await demolition and repairs to begin. I have no means to store or prepare food, let alone wash dishes. All of our dishes and cookware is currently stored in the garage and our kitchen has no water or electricity at this time.
We are now two weeks into this mess and there is no end in sight. We have been given a hopeful guesstimate of two to three more weeks before everything is done.
Because of this we have been financially devastated. Our families have supported us and helped us as much as they can. Our friends have been there for us and we received help very quickly from a charity that supports paramedics from my agency, in times of crisis. I thought it was enough. I could never have imagined how devastating this was going to be. I would never have imagined that we would end up needing ten times more than what was already given to us.
We have drained our savings account, our emergency funds and our regular bank account, including credit cards. Both my husband and myself have had to take time off of work to rip out carpet, move furniture and empty out the house we have lived in for a decade. We've been blessed with helping hands along the way but unfortunately we have run out of resources.
In total, not including our regular monthly expenses, this incident has cost us $3,796. This includes one more week of the projected costs of food and additional childcare. We know there will be one more week beyond that, and possibly anywhere from one to three more weeks beyond that. The most we will recover from insurance is $500 dollars prorated to our rent, at some point in November.
My husband and I both work full time, as well as part time, to pay our bills and take care of our family. We have never taken a dime we did not earn in the 16 years we have been a family. We never thought we would be in this position. We're embarrassed to ask for any help. But we have to put pride aside and do what we have to do for our children. We are dangerously close to being put into a position that we would not be able to recover from. We are already in the position of being completely out of money and resources. For that reason, I am humbly asking for help.
Thank you for any help, prayers or just plain good thoughts you could send our way. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. But I can only hope to repay the kindness someday, should it be needed. God bless you all.
Humbly,
Tara and Erich Kaiser
Organizer
Tara Kaiser
Organizer
Katy, TX