Daughter launches fundraiser over fear her father will lose his YK home

Miranda Tschirhart says she has launched an online fundraiser to keep her father from losing his Yellowknife home.

Tim Tschirhart’s daughter says he will lose his house in the next few months if he is unable to come up with $75,000. Tim originally took on a loan to cover basic expenses, Miranda said, but is at risk of losing his home as he now unable to repay it.

As of Tuesday evening, a GoFundMe established by Miranda had raised $7,250 of its $25,000 goal.

“My mom was in an accident when I was two and she was in a coma for six years after,” said Miranda, adding that following the loss of his wife, Tim was consumed with grief.

The GoFundMe page states Tim was left unable to work due to “depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and PTSD.”

After failing to secure private loans or a reverse mortgage, Miranda said she turned to GoFundMe as a last resort.

“I’m from this great community and I’ve been blessed with having wonderful people in my life. Maybe if I start this GoFundMe, then we can raise enough, and then I’m going to fly up and help my dad sell every possible thing he can,” she said.

“Nothing is too small. I think sometimes people think that and it’s like, that $5 goes somewhere. I know it’s hard for a lot of people right now.”

On GoFundMe, Miranda articulated her fear that if $75,000 can’t be found soon, “my dad will be homeless by early winter and have to seek out a shelter.”

In an interview with Cabin Radio, she said her experience with the housing system suggested: “You can’t get housing unless you don’t have a house.”

“So, to get into lower-income housing, you have to be homeless. Then you can be put on an emergency list and that’s anywhere from two weeks to months,” said Miranda.

“But the main reason I don’t want my dad to go into the system more is that you can never get out and it costs you a lot of money to be poor.

“If you get your power cut off, you have to pay the reinstatement fee. I remember when I was a kid these things happening, and it was like, ‘OK, well, we just wear an extra sweater until we can get fuel.’”

Miranda is also hoping to ensure her father and his dog are not separated, a task complicated by policies forbidding pets at many shelters and apartment buildings.

“Having at least one pet in his life is what has kept him going all these years, because he had somebody he had to take out for a walk, he had somebody besides himself that he had to take care of,” she said. “If he didn’t have a pet, as closed-off emotionally as he was, I just don’t think he would have survived.”

Since visiting Tim in March, Miranda said she has seen her father transform through “waking up” and let go of decades of anger and grief.

“The bottom line is we all come into situations where it’s too much to handle, so it’s important to do your own work to get yourself out of it, but you just need family and a community – and that’s something my dad hasn’t really had in a long time,” she said.

“I’m sorry to see him in a situation where choices he made because he was neglecting himself got him into this financial debt. I just really want to give him a second chance, because the last 30 years of his life have been pretty rotten.”