Lisa Swihart and her 7-year-old son
By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — A Dearborn Heights mother of three started a fundraiser after her house in the 4900 block of Detroit caught on fire last week leaving the family with no place to stay.
Lisa Swihart said she lost her house due to a downed power line that caused a gas leak at the meter to ignite. She had lived in the house — which was paid off — for 11 years.
According to the GoFundMe page, Swihart lost her job due to the COVID-19 pandemic and couldn’t go back to work since she homeschools her 7-year-old son who suffers from severe asthma.
“Not having a job at the moment and with the high costs of insurance because it’s required that I have both flood and home insurance I had to let my insurance lapse,” the page said. “The contractor I spoke with said that this will have to be professionally cleaned due to the age of the house it may contain asbestos and lead paint. Anything to help with these repairs will be much appreciated.”
Swihart said she put a lot of work into her house’s new flooring, front door and kitchen cabinets, and painted the exterior herself before she lost her job.
Photos and videos of the fire damage are posted on the GoFundMe page. As of Aug. 18, $15,981 of the $50,000 goal had been raised.
Initially, Swihart set the fundraiser’s goal at $9,000 without knowing how much it would cost, and an update posted on the page said a contractor went to the house to assess the damage.
“He advised me this repair not including the siding and wiring will be on the upside of 50k,” Swihart wrote. “I’ll be increasing the go find me goal. Thank you and God bless.”
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(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)