Open Letter for Davidson Family Trust

Many of you have been asking about our House Update.

It’s been nearly 5 years since our fire…I never would have imagined it would take so long to recover from our fire. As many of you know our story I won’t repeat it all here, but we’ve been struggling to get this house repaired and expanded for our family and get rid of the mold since we got here in 2014.

With my Lyme disease from 2017 not improving and our boys behaviors increasing our health has been compromised by the mold in our home. In desperation last December, we sent an Open Letter to many charities including Joanna and Chip Gaines/Fixer Upper, The Benham Brothers, Habitat for Humanity, Rotary Club, Autism magazines, and more… only Habitat for Humanity offered to consider helping.

Here is that Open Letter:

We need your help. In 2013 we lost our 3800sq foot home, business and van in a fire and barely got out alive with our 4 boys, three disabled with autism. Our home was paid off but we had no insurance. We were homeless and moved 6 times in six months til we purchased this smaller house (1100 sq feet) with hopes of expanding it. All this moving was hard on our boys. Within the first year we moved in my elderly mother with dementia as well. With 7 of us it is very cramped.

We moved here in November 2014, and the first winter we began dealing with humidity then mold issues. We contracted a mold expert, George White, out of Ottawa, On. June 2015, who has been helping us understand the mold situation.

We covered the crawl space with plastic, removed carpet on first floor and installed hardwood. We noticed one windowsill soft on the second floor and decided to open it up October 2016. The rot was a foot deep on both sides. Soon after we seen health issues begin in our special needs boys.

It’s been four years since our fire, and we have not had a day of rest from all the moving, estimates, consults, then the repairs on this house that were not expected.

This past summer I contracted Lyme disease and Bell’s palsy in my face. I was on antibiotics since September 2017 including a PICC line IV. In my battle to rid myself of Lyme, I’ve been told, our mold is complicating my recovery. The mold is keeping my face paralyzed. We have been told we need to get rid of the mold or should move. We tried to move last year and had an offer on our house til our bank refused to finance our mortgage so we got stuck here. Now we’ve been told we would lose money on this house if we tried to move. .

We are not carpenters. But are willing to do what we can to help. We have a mold remediator carpenter, Richard Buchanan, out of Carleton Place that has assessed our house and so far, it needs:

  • Spray Foam our basement headers
  • Spray Foam our basement
  • (possibly) dig and tar our basement walls
  • Remove all windows under containment and replace.
  • Remove mold on walls under containment
  • Install HRV system to remove humidity
  • Also expand kitchen & living areas for adequate living space.
  • Remove and replace moldy fridge
  • Air filters to improve air quality

 

We still have our Trust fund we are trying to fundraising (see below) and some savings. But we do not know if we can afford to do all that needs to be done. The one quote we got was $185 sq foot for any additions. We only have so much funds and with all the repairs, we could not expand as well.

We need materials, design help, labourers and funding to help us accomplish this. I am exhausted how complicated this has become. I just want to get our home healthy for our boys special needs and large enough for all our families needs so we can put our fire behind us.

Is there is anything you can do to help us? Resources, Materials, fundraising, people? Share our gofundme page, write an article…..We would be so grateful for anything.

 

Rita  Davidson and family

www.davidsonfamilytrust.com

www.gofundme.com/davidson-family-trust

– END –

We have an appointment with Habitat in the next week. PLEASE PRAY! Please share this post with whoever you think could help or donate. We are SO EXCITED what this might mean for us all!

With much love,

Rita xxo 🙂

 

 

©Copyright 2018 Rita Davidson and Little Flowers Family Press

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