Fire Leaves Family Homeless.

Hi, my name is Lisa Wehida Da Silva and I would like to share the situation that my brother and his family are currently facing. On February 16th 2022, my brother and his wife received the most devastating phone call that the house they lived in on 111th St, Richmond Hill, NY was on fire. My brother and his wife rented the second floor apartment. The fire was started on the first floor of the building. My brother lived there with his wife, their 2 daughters age 10 and 6 along with my mom. The fire department did an excellent job to contain the fire. However, in that process they had no choice but to break through the roof, windows and walls of the home to fully extinguish the blaze. Sadly, their apartment is completely ruined.  The efforts to contain the fire caused extensive water and smoke damage.  It is now uninhabitable. My brother and his family are devastated as they are constantly reliving the trauma from this unfortunate disaster. They have lost lost most of their things including furniture, appliances, clothes, shoes, sentimental items, photos and so much more that are irreplaceable. The girls are constantly crying and are visibly shaken as they no longer have a place to call home and they are not able to understand that their clothes, shoes and toys are all gone.

My brother and sister-in- law were working extremely hard to provide for their family, having moved from Guyana in 2016 to build a life for themselves. They recently started to recover from the loss of employment stemming from Covid 19 and the lockdown. They used most of their modest savings to get by during the pandemic.

Thankfully, the Red Cross was able to provide temporary housing for them until February 24th 2022, but now they need to find a new place to live. Housing is very expensive and hard to find. They will need to pay the first and last month's rent plus a security deposit and a brokers fee. Also, they have to refurnish a new apartment. My brother and his wife are physically and mentally exhausted from this terrible tragedy. Their girls are so emotional from this loss and my mom is suffering from a constant state of shock. They need to start over by finding a new place to live and also to buy the basic necessities for their family of 5. I am asking with all sincerity to please help my brother and his family as they are struggling to rebuild their lives. I know that these are hard times for everyone but i am humbly asking if you can please help them in any way you can. If you know my brother, you know he would do the same for you. Your contribution will immediately help them to get a new home and buy the necessary things like beds, mattresses, clothes,shoes, food, etc. No amount is too small and we are so grateful for whatever you can give.  100% of all donations will go to my brother and his family to help them start over. Our family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts. May you be blessed with 100 times of whatever you can afford. Thank you and God Bless.