House Fire Ruins Christmas
Donation protected
It's been 8 months since a 2nd fire destroyed the family home. This beautiful, creative family with 9 children still wake in the night with various "Post Tramatic Stress" effects, including bedwetting and nightmares. I've created this account on behalf of this lovely family in hopes of giving them a decent Christmas and possibly helping them catch up on late bills.
Bills that are late due to the drawn out processes of insurance companies and inept policies of government. My plea to everyone is to donate what you can to help this family who still struggles 8 months later.
The following is a snippet of what the family endured, with names reduced to an initial, to protect privacy:
We had the first fire March 11th at 11:45pm. It started in the kids room from a brand new space heater that didn't shut off when it over heated. G (6) was the first to wake up to the fire and came down screaming. Smoke detectors were going off. A (Father) ran upstairs to get other kids out of the room. C'S (8) blanket , that was on top of him, was on fire. He had to crawl out of it and and A (Father) grabbed him and got him down the stairs. We heard E screaming and A ran back up and had to crawl around and find her because it was so smokey. He grabbed her and got down the stairs. I was down in the living room alseep with the baby (1 week old) and H (3). I Woke up and had to run upstairs and wake L (15) and guide all of the kids out the door while still half asleep not exactly knowing what was really going on. I had blankets on the couch and grabbed them as I went out and wrapped the kids and knocked on the neighbours doors. A (Father)made his way outside and within minutes the firefighters were coming down the streets. They took all of us in ambulances and gave everyone oxygen and tested our blood to make sure everyone was okay. The red cross put us up in a hotel for 72 hours and gave us gift cards to get an outfit and food. We lived in 2 hotel rooms for 10 people for a month and a half. Ready to move back home within about a week, we then got a phone call April 21st from the police that our house was on fire again. Obviously Speechless, we went to the house to talk to the fire marshell and police. We gave our statements, and watched, for a second time, our family home burn. We waited until morning to tell the children so they would be able to sleep. It was so hard to tell them, that after all that they went through not that long before, now there was no way we were going back home any time soon. It was heartbreaking.
We lived in 2 hotel rooms with 10 people until June when I (Mom)was able to find us a rental home. We stayed without any beds or any furniture for almost 3 months until the insurance company finally released some money so we were able to get beds. It is now going on 8 months since the second fire and we are still waiting.
The Child Tax benefit that would normally be deposited into the bank account each month, is a finance they greatly rely on. Sadly the government messed up and says they will be unable to provide this necessary funding until January 20th!
Any help would be greatly appreciated... and with tears in my eyes I hope the kindness of my friends will bring joy to these children on Christmas day.
http://m.durhamregion.com/news-story/6507945-video-second-fire-at-oshawa-home-in-just-over-a-month-guts-house
Bills that are late due to the drawn out processes of insurance companies and inept policies of government. My plea to everyone is to donate what you can to help this family who still struggles 8 months later.
The following is a snippet of what the family endured, with names reduced to an initial, to protect privacy:
We had the first fire March 11th at 11:45pm. It started in the kids room from a brand new space heater that didn't shut off when it over heated. G (6) was the first to wake up to the fire and came down screaming. Smoke detectors were going off. A (Father) ran upstairs to get other kids out of the room. C'S (8) blanket , that was on top of him, was on fire. He had to crawl out of it and and A (Father) grabbed him and got him down the stairs. We heard E screaming and A ran back up and had to crawl around and find her because it was so smokey. He grabbed her and got down the stairs. I was down in the living room alseep with the baby (1 week old) and H (3). I Woke up and had to run upstairs and wake L (15) and guide all of the kids out the door while still half asleep not exactly knowing what was really going on. I had blankets on the couch and grabbed them as I went out and wrapped the kids and knocked on the neighbours doors. A (Father)made his way outside and within minutes the firefighters were coming down the streets. They took all of us in ambulances and gave everyone oxygen and tested our blood to make sure everyone was okay. The red cross put us up in a hotel for 72 hours and gave us gift cards to get an outfit and food. We lived in 2 hotel rooms for 10 people for a month and a half. Ready to move back home within about a week, we then got a phone call April 21st from the police that our house was on fire again. Obviously Speechless, we went to the house to talk to the fire marshell and police. We gave our statements, and watched, for a second time, our family home burn. We waited until morning to tell the children so they would be able to sleep. It was so hard to tell them, that after all that they went through not that long before, now there was no way we were going back home any time soon. It was heartbreaking.
We lived in 2 hotel rooms with 10 people until June when I (Mom)was able to find us a rental home. We stayed without any beds or any furniture for almost 3 months until the insurance company finally released some money so we were able to get beds. It is now going on 8 months since the second fire and we are still waiting.
The Child Tax benefit that would normally be deposited into the bank account each month, is a finance they greatly rely on. Sadly the government messed up and says they will be unable to provide this necessary funding until January 20th!
Any help would be greatly appreciated... and with tears in my eyes I hope the kindness of my friends will bring joy to these children on Christmas day.
http://m.durhamregion.com/news-story/6507945-video-second-fire-at-oshawa-home-in-just-over-a-month-guts-house
Organizer
Eileen Dover-Anfell
Organizer
Oshawa, ON
