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Hurricane Homelessness

$1,350 of $550,000 goal
Given by 16 generous donors in around 4 months

Please help us stop being homeless after the hurricane made us lose everything. It's been really hard especially with house prices rising rn

Auckland

Hello, my name is Rita; thank you for reading my story.

My family was devastated by Hurricane Gabrielle when the floods caused the land under our home to fall away, leaving it red-stickered and teetering over the cliff edge. This left us homeless for all of 2023 (and now). We found out that no matter the outcome of the final decision (either land repairs or forced to move out), our beautiful home that we spent 6 years restoring and renovating every single day will be demolished.

Our home falls under Category 3: The Buyout Scheme. We will be offered money to move out, but the max they're willing to offer does not cover the cost of moving. We're trapped.

None of us qualify for a second mortgage, so our only option is to take the money as-is without this support. My parents are Ukrainian immigrants and they worked hard in an uphill struggle, starving, wearing old cheap clothes, never resting, not going on holidays, never going to restaurants, not even going on picnics - only working, to get from $100 and basic "the truck is red" vocabulary to where we are now, and they were so proud of what we had achieved until all of this happened. We all live together. I just want my family to feel some hope.

Anything you're willing to contribute will mean the world and will probably make us cry a little, and if you aren't able to contribute, sharing this wherever you can will be just as good and will also probably make us cry a little.

Thank you so much for reading all of this. I wish you well.

Use of funds

All the funds will go to either the land repairs or to buy another house. What happens isn't up to us, but your contribution will help regardless of the decision. Even if we don't reach the goal, your money will help us cover rent and food. We're desperate

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Latest update

Finally, some good news!  22 May 2024

So there have been exciting goings on within the silence between my last update and now that have stalled updates and comic releases. Our home got evaluated and we got more than we were led to believe we were getting, which put us from a position where we couldn’t afford to live literally anywhere to being able to place an offer on a house. We’re looking at a home in Waiuku that’s unfortunately no longer within the boundaries of what can be considered Auckland, but only by just, and we can make it work. We even got our offer accepted! However, we still need to wait 5 days to see if the family who gave a higher (but conditional) offer before us can make their offer unconditional. If they can’t, it’s ours. The house needs… a bit of work done to say the least, and your donations will all be going toward the roof and driveway repairs which are critical changes since our non-4WD cars cannot reach the house at the moment and the roof is leaking so badly that there’s a drainage hole drilled into a squishy part of the ceiling and buckets strewn across the floor and in the attic. Your donations, kind words and wishes for our success in this have done a lot of heavy lifting in keeping our morale, hope and sanity high, genuinely. I have the best friends in the world and nobody can ever argue that because the internet has permanent irrefutable proof of them selflessly supporting me when I needed them most both here and in private messages. Bless you all, I love you, will update you soon

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Latest donations

Nazzy
Nazzy on 07 Apr 2024
I LOVE YOU RITA 🫶🏼
$70
Liv
Liv on 07 Apr 2024
$30
Guest Donor
Guest Donor on 06 Apr 2024
its not as much as id like to give, but its what i have good luck zap, you are so incredibly strong
Private
Guest Donor
Guest Donor on 04 Apr 2024
You got this, hopefully everything goes well!
$10
Max
Max on 29 Mar 2024
Hi Rita. Just a little gift for you and your family, from me and my family. Just ask if you need a hand. Arohanui Max
$100

Who's involved?

Rita Zaporokha's avatar
Created by, and paying to a verified bank account of, Rita Zaporokha
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This campaign started on 10 Mar 2024 and ended on 1 Jul 2024.