Aid for a Family Displaced by Devastating Fire

My name is Donna Gillespie. On Sunday, December the eighth, I witnessed my neighbor's house go up in flames. She lost most everything on the first floor, and it completely destroyed her son’s bedroom on the second floor. What wasn’t destroyed by the fire was destroyed by water and smoke damage. Her family is homeless at this point, living out of a hotel and day-to-day generosity of the community.

She was working from home, and because of the house going up in flames, she’s currently out of work. She has expenses from the home that she just lost, including December’s rent and utilities. This is important because she cannot move forward until these items are taken care of.

She needs to replace most everything. Her office on the main floor and its contents were destroyed in the fire, along with their living area and her kitchen.

A bedroom was totally destroyed on the second floor, as well as water and smoke damage to the other two bedrooms and bathroom.

Because she has no place to live, she had to place her pets with other people.

She and her family, which consist of a young daughter, a teenage son, two dogs, and a cat, are in desperate need of help.

It’s one thing to see this on the news; you have compassion for those people, but it’s another thing to actually witness someone that you know and care for lose everything that they have. You can smell the smoke. You can see the flames. You can see the firetrucks and the paramedics coming to put out the fire.

No time is a good time to have an emergency or a disaster such as this, but especially during the holiday season, where it’s supposed to be the happiest time of the year. I am only doing what I would want someone to do for me. The goal is to get them somewhere stable to live and be able to replace the furnishings and household items that are needed to live. There is no gift too big or too small. I ask that you have compassion for this family and do whatever you can to support. Thank you from the bottom of my heart as well as theirs.