Kathy Zellinger-Serving Missionaries For 33 Years

Hi I'm Dave Meldrum-Green from Orlando, FL. I am raising funds to directly help out a friend of many, who suffered substantial losses due to Hurricane Ian. Here is her story: Kathy Zellinger was devastated when she came back from her stay in Wisconsin to find out that her home had flooded during Hurricane Ian. Her entire neighborhood suffered flood damage. FEMA measured the flood line on her house at 8 inches high. Thus it completely flooded and was severely compromised. Kathy had no idea that this had happened until she returned home from her trip and then stepped on to her water-logged carpeting and immediately smelled mold in the air. Unfortunately, her home will have to be gutted down to the studs and undergo an entire professional mold remediation and interior reconstruction.

As a result of the mold damage, Kathy has lost almost everything - furniture, electronics, clothes, decor, etc. Now you may ask, doesn’t home insurance cover all of this? Unfortunately, home insurance policies in Florida cover damage from winds (hurricane winds). But you need to purchase a separate flood insurance policy from the Federal government. That is one of the tragedies of Hurricane Ian; so many people’s homes in Central Florida were not in flood zones (and therefore did not carry flood insurance), but their homes were flooded by the intense rainfall of slow-moving Ian. Very simply...after a very wet, rainy August, Ian's September torrential rains had nowhere to go.

Fortunately, FEMA has been paying for her expenses for temporary housing in a hotel and a modest living stipend. But all FEMA can offer many folks (including Kathy) is simply a low-interest rate Federal loan to help them pay for the damages done to their homes. Kathy has decided not to undergo the intense stress of trying to restore her home and is unable to afford the financial burden to do so. She will be selling her home to someone who buys distressed properties, but unfortunately having to do so at a deeply discounted price. Thus, losing a sizable portion of the equity she has built up. We estimate this at around $185,000. In addition, the loss of her house contents and personal possessions caused by the mold is estimated at $15,000.

As a result, we are trying to raise $50,000 (about 25% of her losses) to help her offset these losses and get a new start. Would you please consider helping out Kathy, who has given her life serving the Lord and has continued to selflessly serve missionaries all over the world for over 30 years with the same mission organization? She has given her life for so many and now it's time that we can give back to her. Thank you! (P.s. Also, please feel free to post this on your social media sites like Facebook.)