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Happy #GivingTuesday!

Each year we select a cause, family, or organization to support. Please take a moment to learn about this year's special family. 
 

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During Friendsgiving, we always take a moment to reflect on what we are most grateful for. Personally, I am most thankful for having a safe, dry place to live with power and running water.

As you know, not everyone has been as fortunate as us - from Napa, to OC, to Texas, we all know someone who lost everything either by fire or water this year.
I would like to dedicate this year's holiday celebrations to those who lost their homes, and share a story from one of my oldest and dearest friends back home in Southeast Texas whose family lost everything.

We are still helping raise funds for Allison family of six, so please take a moment to read their survival story below, donate in their honor on #GivingTuesday, and share their journey to recovery via the social share buttons at the bottom of this email.

Xo,
Elle
Allison Family Hurricane Harvey Survival Story:

My name is Amanda Allison and I am from Vidor, Texas.  I am married to the love of my life, Andrew, and we have 4 amazing kids.  Gabbie is a senior this year and she’s 17, Madison is 15, Tanner is 10, and Anna-Mae will be 10 at the end of November. I can’t remember the exact date we evacuated.  It was either the 28th or 29th of August. Everything that has happened since has run together in a blur, and none of us can remember what day or time things really happened because it was so chaotic.  

The day we left:
There was standing water on our road, in front of our neighbors home, about 50 feet from our driveway.  The water at the end of the road was anywhere from knee to chest deep and people were launching boats to get to the other side of the neighborhood.  It stayed like that for 2 days and had started to recede, but it started raining.  It rained like we had never seen before.  It was coming down in sheets, so fast.  It was only around noon… Once it started raining, the water started coming up so fast.  It went from 50 feet down the road to 4 inches inside my home in only 30 minutes!!!  I had seen it coming inside the back of our home first, into our sunroom, my bathroom, and closet.  When I saw it streaking across my bedroom floor, I knew we were in trouble.  My husband and I had a 30 second conversation and I decided to evacuate to Florida with my 4 kids, 2 dogs, and our oldest daughter’s boyfriend, Jacob.  He couldn’t get his car to any of his family’s homes, so he had to stay with us.  He had to leave his car behind at a vacant home across from ours.  It took another 30 minutes to load my suburban.  There was no order to any of it.  We grabbed what we could as far as clothes and necessities, and that was all we had time for.
The drive down main street was terrifying.  My husband drove in front of me with his 1 ton and 20 foot trailer attached so he could make a wake for me to drive through.  We are always a good team and I’m thankful for this.  The water was about thigh deep at that time but we still had to make it through the underpass.  The water was up to my doors and I had to drive up on the bricks and hug the inside of the curb.  The plan was that if I couldn’t make it, I would drive my car onto his trailer and he would pull us out.  There was complete silence in my car.  Everyone was holding onto their seats and I started to hear soft prayers as we pushed through.  
There were people walking around that curb and the current from our vehicles was pulling them out toward us.  I was trying not to stop my car and not hit another person at the same time and it was utterly terrifying.  The exhaust was glugging and the car tried to stall, but I kept on it and we made it through!  I planned on driving to Pensacola, but I was driving through the tropical storm all the way.  I drove about 25 mph all the way to Biloxi and finally decided to get a hotel room.  The weather was so bad we could barely see and the wind was pushing my car all over the road.  We arrived at my family’s home the next day and then were lucky enough to have some hotel rooms in Destin, provided by FEMA.  It was all a waiting game after that…

He stayed behind:
My husband is self-employed and doesn’t ever chance missing out on money for our family.  He stayed because we had no idea how long this would all last.  He stayed at a relative’s home and even slept on the bed of his truck for a night.  The day our home flooded the dam had opened up.  The water started rising at 4 inches an hour and did this for several days.  My husband would wade into our home and grab whatever he could and pull it out in our little canoe.  He did this a few times until the water was too high and it was unsafe to go to the house at all anymore.  The few things he saved were so precious to us all; baby books, my entire collection of prisma colors (I’m an artist in my free time), and the rest we had to see weeks after the storm.  
He sent me pictures and videos daily of our home and the city.  I have pictures of him with the canoe and my house behind him surrounded by water as it was still rising.  I have video of my bed, the frame and all, floating and touching the ceiling in my bedroom.  He called me from the roof of my home, in tears.
 
The Aftermath:
We ended up having almost 7 feet of water in our home and it actually went onto the roof on the back of our home.  The water was inside for several days before it receded.  The damage was devastating.  We lost almost everything we had…  All of our appliances, our furniture, so many pictures, and so many things you forget are there.  I dug through debris piles for 2 weeks and pulled out new school clothes with tags still on.  I salvaged a lot and was excited to find some of my jewelry and mementos for the kids.
The house it totally gutted to the studs now.  We are now living in 2 campers in our back yard.  We had to buy one and someone was gracious enough to let us borrow one so we could have a little more room for the 6 of us.  We don’t have family dinners as there is nowhere to eat together or for me to cook for that matter.  We all miss homecooked food so much.  My husband is building an outside bath area with an old tub we had, so us ladies can actually take a real bath.  We appreciate all of the help and kindness from everyone, even strangers, but life will never be the normal it used to be.  It will be different and new.  We have no idea when the house will be rebuilt.  We just know it will be at least another year.  We are trying to build the kitchen and bathroom first, and put up walls so we can at least get back into the house.  One day at a time…  That is what we all keep saying as we hope the nightmare ends soon… But we’ve seen so much love and people coming together from this.  We are trying to look at it as a blessing in disguise and hoping that one day we have a better built home and can make new memories in it.  

We are the Allisons, and we survived.      
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