Ocala family cant live in rental home after sinkholes opened on property – Ocala

April Naclerio and her three kids are staying with a friend.

Much of Saturday, June 6, was a day of celebration for April Naclerio and her three children. She hosted a party at her rental home in Ocala to mark the graduation of her son Kyle, 11, from Ward-Highlands Elementary School.

The evening brought rain, so Naclerio planned to cap the festivities by putting on a scary movie, but a knock on the door at about 10 p.m. brought a real-life horror: A neighbor told her a sinkhole had opened and was moving into the yard of her home at 6940 NE Fifth Place.

"In that short amount of time of him telling me that, another smaller sinkhole opens in my yard," Naclerio recalled.

Within minutes, crews from various city of Ocala departments were on scene. The shifting earth caused an electrical pole to lean, so Ocala Utility workers had to shore up its wires.

Naclerio, 37, made arrangements for her children Kyle, Liam, 5, and Autumn, soon to be 4 to stay somewhere else. The last shed heard when she was leaving to drop them off, a city building inspector was planning to put a yellow tag on the home, meaning she and her family could still live in the building, but would need to use caution.

"When I was on my way back home, somebody looked in my backyard and noticed there was another sinkhole by one of my back doors and my stairs were starting to fall down," Naclerio said.

She arrived to see a red notice stuck to the door. At 12:22 a.m., Mike Savage, a city inspector, had declared the home unsafe to enter or occupy.

"What are the odds? I kept saying. What are the odds of this happening?" Naclerio recalled.

Now, she and her children are looking for a place to live, in a county where rental properties are scarce and rents are expensive. For now, shes staying with Michelle Baker, a childhood friend. In the meantime, Melody Leffler of Mulberry, Naclerios stepmother, has started a GoFundMe page for the family at https://www.gofundme.com/f/naclerio-home.

"Im a single mom of three, Im going through a divorce. Im working just the best I can to maintain," Naclerio said. "I had no intentions of leaving that house. Id been there for six years."

As of noon Wednesday, the GoFundMe page indicated the effort had fetched $900 in contributions out of a goal of $5,000. In a note on the page, Leffler writes that the family needs help with costs involved in renting a new home, including the security deposit, first and last months rent, and storage of their property until they are able to move.

Naclerio is a client care technician at The Refuge, A Healing Place, in Ocklawaha. She said shes overwhelmed by the support shes received so far from neighbors many of them members of the Bass family family, friends and co-workers.

Isabel Rehak, CEO of The Refuge, sprang into action after seeing a post by Naclerio on Facebook the day after the sinkholes opened.

"I went there and was with a lot of her friends and family and we helped put everything in boxes in the rain and moved everything out," she said.

According to Rehak, Naclerios immediate supervisor gave her time off to focus on the needs of her family. Naclerio said she is now back on the job.

"Honestly, I feel better since Ive gone back to work," she said. "I like my job. I love the people I work with."

Rehak said staff and clients alike at The Refuge a facility offering treatment for addiction, PTSD and other trauma think highly of Naclerio.

"A lot of clients here have given good feedback to me and her supervisor about how she makes them smile," Rehak said.

"To me its been very telling to see how everybody rallies around her," Rehak added. "I told her its because she is the type of person who cares for others. And its time for her to let us care about her."

Naclerio describes the days since June 6 as "a whirlwind."

"Ive never been one to ask for help," she said. "I try to be very independent. Ive always been a caregiver. Im always the helper, usually. Its amazing that in this crisis Ive had so many people reach out to me."

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Ocala family cant live in rental home after sinkholes opened on property - Ocala