My name is Clare, and I’m raising donations for my brother, Dai Hilton, his partner Danielle, and their family after their home was completely destroyed by a fire in the early hours of Saturday morning. Dai isn’t my biological brother - he’s my chosen family - and right now they urgently need help to rebuild their lives from nothing.

At 3am, the smoke alarm went off (thank goodness). When Dai and Danielle opened the bedroom door, they saw a glow coming from the other side of the house - the chalet was already ablaze. They ran through the home, lifting and dragging their two boys out of bed, grabbing their dog Daisy, and escaping just moments before the entire building became engulfed in flames.

They called 999 and tried desperately to slow the fire with a garden hose, but it was hopeless. Five fire engines and a bowser later, the fire was finally put out, but the building was gone. Everything they owned, every memory, every belonging from years of family life… reduced to ashes in minutes.

They were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and thankfully discharged the next morning. Physically they are okay. Emotionally they are traumatised.

And then came the second blow.

Their home couldn’t be insured.

Because of the construction of the chalet’s foundations, no insurer would cover it - meaning this is a total loss. No payout. No safety net. No way to recover what was destroyed.

Right now, they are living in a spare room at Dai’s parents’ house, wearing borrowed clothes. Their car keys melted. Their wallets gone. Their documents gone. They are literally starting from less than zero.

Today, Dai and Danielle begin the heartbreaking job of manually digging out the plot of land where their home once stood, trying to figure out how to rebuild a safe place for their family, Dai, Danielle, three kids, and Daisy the dog.

This fundraiser is to help them with them with the cost of rebuilding from scratch, clothes, essentials, and eventually, the cost of rebuilding a home on more permanent foundations.

If you can give anything at all, it will make a real difference. This family escaped with their lives, but lost everything else. Your support will help them take their first steps toward rebuilding a future.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading and for helping.

PS the picture of Dai and the kids is a few years old now, because it is rare they are in the photo together as Dai is normally the one taking the photos!