VICTOR LOGAN ThomasFire RELIEF FUND
Victor Logan, an old skydiving buddy, was relaxing at home on Monday evening, Dec. 4th. He'd been living up there in the hills above Ventura for over 19 years. In his words: "Suddenly the power went out at 8:00 p.m. The first fire passed by below and to the west. The 2nd fire caught us by surprise!! It came right at us and gave us 5 mins notice. At 10:30 Monday night we jumped in our vehicles with no supplies and literally ran for our lives." Tuesday morning, Victor was able to talk his way back up onto the property, and his message to me read simply: "Unfortunately, my abode is no more."
Victor was renting a mobile home on a large, rural property that had the main home and several other structures atop the hillsides between Ventura and Ojai. What he found left of his home was "a blob of melted materials, almost flat to the ground, with the a.c. unit sitting on top." The photo shows this clearly. Everything Victor owned was in his home or in his work van, parked next to his home. Both were total losses. The other structures on the property were also total losses. Victor did not have a renter's insurance policy, so all is truly gone.
In the dark days ahead, Victor needs to find a new home. He is staying in the extra bedroom of a friend, but it is a very temporary and crowded situation. And with all of the other Thomas Fire losses to the area - which continues to burn and spread, it is going to be difficult to find an affordable and permanent place to live unless he acts quickly.
Once he finds a suitable home, of course, he needs to furnish and equip it with the basics for living. And of equal importance, he needs to find a new (old, used) work van and tools so that he can get his income up and going again. Did I mention that he lost all of his clothing, too.
All of this is quite daunting, but step by step, Victor is working on forging ahead and losing no time in picking up the pieces so he can eventually continue to enjoy these "Golden Years" of his life. With the support and help of our incredible community of sky people, I know that it can become a reality for him that life is not over and he has much yet to look forward to. It's what we all do so well - face life's sometimes harsh realities and cluster together to make sure everyone's going to be okay.
The property before the fire:
Friends of Victor will remember these days - Elsinore 1979 and Perris 1980's.
Victor is self employed, and the damage is not covered by any insurance that he has.
While Facebook emojis and words are encouraging and mean a lot to him, let's face it, what would mean a lot more is helping him rebuild his life and his business. All of the proceeds, minus what GoFundMe takes, will go directly to Victor. (That amounts to 2.9% + .30/per donation subtracted.) If you donate the cost of a skydive - let's say $26, Victor will get $24.95 out of it. And going through GoFundMe makes you, your funds, Victor, and his receiving the funds secure.
Blue Skies!!
GoFundMe required questions:
Who you are and where you’re located:
My name is Dana Handbury, a past skydiving friend of Victor’s who set this campaign up from my home in Lake Elsinore when I literally watched his Ventura/Ojai hillside - which I've lived next to from 1991 to 2013 – go up in massive flames.
Your connection to your beneficiary:
We’ve been friends and have countless mutual friends in the sport since the 1970’s and continue our friendship on Facebook now that I’ve moved away from Ventura County.
How the funds will be spent (be specific as possible):
- Security deposit and first/last on new apartment
- Older model used work van
- Replace basic carpentry work tools so I can start to earn money again asap
- New furniture (couch, table, bed, etc)
- Clothes, towels, linens; Appliances, etc
Your withdrawal plan to get the funds from the campaign to the ultimate beneficiary:
Directly to his bank account as soon as we raise as much as possible for him with access to partial disbursements immediately as he finds a new home, work van, and necessary tools! Victor has been made Beneficiary of this campaign and he - and he alone - has control over and access to all funds raised.
