My name is Tracie, Robert is my dad. He served in the United State Navy, honorably discharged in July 1955. He served on the USS Essex CVA9. While enlisted he was the recipient of  the United Nations Ribbon, National Defense Ribbon and the Korean Defense Ribbon.

Thursday evening August 25, 2016, I received a phone call from my dad, 82, now disabled, retired, living a simple life on limited income with his girlfriend Tina and their rescue dog Jack. His house was on fire, burning. He lives in Lakewood, I am in Puyallup. I jumped into my car and rushed over there to find his house in ruins, completely destroyed. My dad was standing in the street in disbelief. He told me he got the garden hose and tried to put the fire out to no avail. My dad has lived there for 15 years. He and Tina have scrimped and saved to make improvements over the last two years and the place was really looking nice. Tina is younger than my dad and together (mostly Tina) put a lot of work into fixing the place up. They had finally saved enough money to put new gravel in the driveway. It was planned for Sunday. That money (cash) burned in the fire. 

Tina and I worked for many hours, going through the ruins looking for items that could be salvaged. While in the house, the fire re-kindled. The house started to fill with smoke and flames started coming from the ceiling. We got out unharmed and called the fire department . This time they pulled the ceiling down with axes and totally destroyed the interior of what was left of the house. We went back in, continued to try and salvage items from the house. What we were able to save, we put into the shed, (the fire spared the shed.) We worked past midnight. 

To add insult to injury, someone cut the lock off the shed and robbed them of what little they had left. We came back the next day to move their belonging to my garage, 95% of their stuff was gone. The only things the theives left was there personal items that would be worth nothing to other, pictures, family vacation video tapes, things of that nature.

They are currently living in a motel with their dog Jack.  Using the funds donated from the Red Cross $480.00. The hotel is $107.00 per night (this includes the extra amount they have to pay for Jack). The Red Cross funds run out tomorrow, August 29, 2016. The obvious solution is to have them move in with me, but my dad can't walk up stairs and my bedrooms are on the second floor.

There is no insurance. I am asking for donations to help them get back on their feet. I am trying to find them a place to live and need money for the deposit, first months rent and of course the pet deposit for Jack.  I need to replace all of their basic household goods and furnishing.  They have limited clothing, we were able to salvage one load of clothes from the dryer. We have the cost of cleanup and removal of the burned up structure. The city came and red-tagged the house on Friday. 

Time is of the essence. Their money for the motel runs out soon and our family can only help so much. I am reaching out to my friends, coworkers and strangers to ask for help to get my dad, Tina and Jack back into a home. Will you help?