Apartment Complex Fire Displaces Mother & Daughter

On Monday, May 23rd around 11:00pm, my sister Michelle & her 7 year-old daughter Olivia were abruptly awakened by blaring fire alarms in their 2nd floor apartment in a 3-floor/36 unit building in Park Ridge, IL. My sister figured it was just a false alarm, until she started hearing other tenants screaming in the hallways, "It's REAL... GET OUT!!!" Michelle immediately jumped out of bed, ran into Olivia's room, wrapped her in a blanket, and ran down the stairs and outside to safety. Upon exiting the building, they were shocked to see a 3rd floor unit near the center of the building completely engulfed in flames. Fire trucks quickly began showing up as the fire began to spread to other units on the 3rd floor. In the end, 20 local fire departments came out to assist, as heroic firemen battled the flames until dawn. Thankfully & miraculously, none of the 100+ tenants were critically injured. Michelle & Olivia were uninjured, as well. But their biggest concern was their 2 cats, Violet & Emmy, who were still inside the burning building, hiding somewhere in their unit. But once again, another miracle occurred... Violet & Emmy survived.  They were found (5 days later) hiding together, scared & soaking wet, under my sister's mattress. Then 1 full week after the fire occurred, my sister Michelle was finally allowed to enter her unit, escorted by helpful restoration workers.  She was given a brief period of time to bag up as many of her personal belongings as she could. On a positive note, the fire never made its way into my sister's unit, but every unit in the building suffered severe smoke & water damage. Much of Michelle & Olivia's clothing, furniture, electronics, toys, etc is no longer salvageable due to smoke & water damage. Even my sister's car suffered some damage in the basement parking garage. Obviously all of these items can be replaced and all that truly matters is that Michelle, Olivia, Violet, & Emmy are all safe. But the reason we started this Go Fund Me is due to the unfortunate fact that my sister did not have renter's insurance. She had been living in the same Elmwood Park apartment for nearly a decade prior, but had to move out last summer when her landlord decided to sell the her building. So Michelle & Olivia found an apartment in Park Ridge and ended up loving it & the area & finally started feeling settled in. My family has been torn over whether or not we should start this Go Fund Me, as my sister should've had renter's insurance. Our family is neither poor nor rich, but we'd like to think of ourselves as good, hard-working people that also help friends/family when we can. My sister is an amazing mother and works her butt off, day in & day out, in an attempt to provide the best life she can for Olivia. And she wouldn't be able to do it without the help of our beautiful mother, who not only is the current boulder of our family, and took care of Gramma, and now takes care of our dad, but is also the best grandmother to Olivia. In the end, we don’t want to ask for much, but we're just trying to get my sister back on her feet and into a new apartment. So far, friends & family & even strangers have generously offered/donated not only money, but clothes, toys, & furniture. The problem is that we are running out of space at our mother's small house in River Grove. Michelle & Olivia are sleeping together in my old bedroom, while Piper (our parents' cat) is trying to get used to Violet & Emmy roaming around the house. Our parents' garage is now filled with large garbage bags full of Michelle & Olivia's clothes/belongings that they are slowly sifting thru and determining what can be salvaged. Please do not feel obligated to donate, but if you have can spare a couple extra bucks to help Michelle & Olivia back into a new apartment, our family would GREATLY appreciate it. And even if you can't donate, but managed to read this entire story, THANK YOU, and hopefully we can all learn something from this unfortunate event.  -Tony