CJ Shearn Apartment Fire Relief Fundraiser
On the evening of Wednesday, January 6, 2021, our dear friend CJ Shearn, who lives alone with cerebral palsy, lost their home in an electrical fire in a Yonkers apartment building. Thankfully, everyone in the building made it out safely in time, but the fire quickly escalated and the apartment was a total loss, along with all of CJ's possessions (their cats have not yet been found). This was the first apartment CJ ever had on their own after their mother passed away a few years ago. It is a huge and devastating loss.
CJ is alive thanks to the herculean effort of their home aid, Miama James, who rushed over when CJ called her about an electrical outage. When the electrical fire started and began to take over the apartment, Miama wheeled CJ down the hall to the building stairs while banging on all of the neighbors' doors to let everyone know to get out of the building. She managed to tie CJ to her body with her coat and proceeded to CARRY them down the 3 flights of stairs to safety. Without Miama there, CJ may have died.
There will be many obstacles ahead in trying to piece CJ's life back together. Please consider helping by contributing to this fundraiser to support CJ in the wake of this great tragedy.
CJ’s aunt, Lauren Young (the sister of his beloved mother) , is helping CJ with all of the administrative details they need to get back on their feet. At CJ’s request, Lauren has been made the beneficiary of the fundraiser so that she can arrange for CJ’s housing, new electric wheelchair, and all administrative details while CJ waits for all of their paperwork, IDs, etc to be replaced after havingbeen destroyed in the fire.
With all our love and thanks,
Thana Alexa & Antonio Sanchez
Link to the press coverage of the electrical fire can be found here: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/yonkers/2021/01/07/yonkers-fire-damages-glenwood-avenue-apartment-building/6578079002/
