My name is Maddie Messerle, and I live with my best friend and co-worker Yaminah Martinez. We are English teachers at Wilmer Hutchins High School, and we have created this GoFundMe on our behalf to support us through a recent tragedy.

On the morning of Monday, March 11th during our spring break, there was a fire in our apartment building. It started in the apartment directly next to us and quickly spread. I miraculously happened to be awake and smelled the smoke before it had fully reached our apartment. Yaminah and I along with our cat, Steve, fled immediately, and by the time we got to the bottom of the stairs, the smoke was so thick it was difficult to see the ground in front of our feet. We are intensely grateful that we were also able to wake our other neighbors who fled from their apartments, and the worst physical damage to anyone during the fire was smoke inhalation. We would like to extend specific appreciation towards the first responders who arrived quickly and prevented the fire from causing further harm.

While we feel truly blessed to be alive, all of our belongings have been lost or damaged by the flames, smoke, and/or insulation. Fortunately, we have already experienced incredible acts of kindness from our neighbors, school community, local community, family, and friends who have dedicated their time and resources to support us during this incredibly traumatic experience. Because of the circumstances surrounding the fire, we no longer feel comfortable living at our apartment complex, so we must find new housing before the end of this month. We are hoping to raise funds to cover the following expenses:

Any donations are appreciated and will directly contribute to us re-building our lives and our home.