This year, I'm celebrating my birthday differently. Yesterday on Aug 3, my family lost our apartment due to the fire at School Street. We lost everything and we are so heartbroken right now. I still can't wrap my head around this. No matter the amount, I will be eternally grateful.

UPDATE: AUGUST 21, 2024

This is one of the last pictures that I took before we lost everything. It really hurts to look back at these pictures and all the memories just start flooding back. In 2016, we moved from Yonkers, NY back to my hometown in Passaic, NJ. Eventually, we found our apartment at School St. and called it our home. At first we thought our kids would have a hard time adjusting to the change but that's the beautiful thing about children. They are resilient and will continue to push forward.

Now, it is time for our family to show resilience once again. But it's so hard right now. All I want to do is go back home and it breaks my heart to know that I just can't. We couldn't go back in our apartment to retrieve anything. All our family photos, books, old letters and belongings stayed behind. Everything is gone and there is nothing we can do about it. But I just can't come to terms with this loss.

What I can do is thank everyone for donating and spreading the word around. It's comforting to know that we aren't alone in this situation. Please continue to share my family's story and consider donating. School is right around the corner and we will use the funds to relocate to a new place and recover things we lost like clothes, furniture, school supplies, etc. We are still in search of an apartment so if you have any info, please feel free to contact me! Hopefully we can find something soon. Again, thank you for your time in reading our story. This is a difficult moment for us, but I know we will move forward from this, one day at a time. As long as we are together, that's all that matters.