Kenny's Butte Fire Fund

My 74 yr old Uncle Kenny Gallagher lost everything but his life in the Butte Fire in central California.  Several people were not so lucky -- they weren't able to evacuate in the 45 minutes it took to take their lives.  My Uncle escaped with the clothes on his back, some guns, and some gold coins.

The rest of his hopes and dreams for himself and his heirs lost, and none of it was insured.

About 20 years ago Kenny survived Guillan-Barre (a rare disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves) which left his body completely paralized for months, yet his brain remained fully aware.   Gradually parts of his body became 'un-paralysed', though he's never recovered the full use of his hands and feet.

When he'd finally come to terms with that and began to rebuild his life, he came down with throat cancer about 12 years ago.  The chemo destroyed all the taste buds in his mouth, and for years he lived by injecting food through a tube directly into his stomach.  Everything tasted like ashes, and eating was impossible.  To this day, beans are the best food for him, because they have a fairly pleasant taste, and they go down easy.

He languished for several years (as you might expect) but then had a dream to sell his house in San Jose (where the market was very good, thankfully) and buy a place in the mountains where he could be semi-self sufficient living 'off the grid.'  He installed a 40k solar system, and my Brother-In-Law Bill, my Brother Chuck and I built him a large shop -- becuase his passion was working on and restoring old motorcycles and, as he said, "In San Jose I had a house with a small garage, and I always had motorcycle parts laying around on the kitchen counters and living room coffee tables.  So, reverse it -- build a big shop with a small living space!"

The Butte fire started when a PG&E line arced with a tree that should have been trimmed back further.  Residents were given short notice to evacuate.  My Uncle Kenny's house was probably completely destroyed in the first hours of the fire.

We returned on 9/25/15 to find all his antique motorcyeles melted.  He lost a car.  He lost the motor-home he used as his living space.  He lost all his meticulasly stored tools (from hand tools to drill presses to welding machines).  He lost all his clothes, his kitchen appliances, his computer, his solar system, his well, and even his semi-high-tech septic system the county made him install.  Heartbrake-ingly, he lost his quad which he used to travel the dirt road he lives on to visit friends. 

In short, he lost his dream.

I'd like to help him recover some of that.  He'll never recover the antique motocycles, but at least he can have a roof over his head and a quad to visit his friends. 

Would you help?



Friends and family, know that any amount helps, since GoFundMe works like many social sites -- the more activity, the more viral. So even a few dollars helps more than you know!


By the way, I'm Robert Olson, and I live in North Fork, CA. if it makes any difference to you.