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My name is Kathryn Hailey. I am the proud mother of an amazingly compassionate 9 year old daughter, Hanna Hailey. On November 22, 2015. We had a house fire that we were blessed enough to not have been home for. The fire destroyed all of my daughter's belongings. Smoke damage took most of the rest of our belongings. I am trying to raise funds to get a new apartment, which usually means first month rent, last months rent, and and security deposit. I am also trying to raise funds to replace the belongings my daughter lost; bed, bedroom furniture, bedding, clothes, shoes, books, etc. I will also be using the funds in order to buy other household furniture; couch, dressers, bookcases, shelves pots, pans, towels, restocking my kitchen, toiletries, towels, tools etc. Some of the funds will also be going towards clean up of my salvaged items and storage costs for my salvaged belongings.
Funds are needed as soon as possible for immediate needs like clothes and starting the clean up process. The funds for a new apartment will probably been needed within the next month or so.
This page was created after an overwhelming and heart warming number of people expressed their desire to help in any way they could. This was made in order to make that process easier for everyone. Your love and support have made it so much easier for us to recover from this and move onward and upward with our lives.
May you be blessed 10 times over for your kindness!
For those of you, wanting to know "the story" of how all this unfolded you can keep reading....
Sunday night, November 22, 2015, Hanna and I decided to visit Duane's house (Hanna's father, my recent ex-husband) and we ended up spending the night. Thank God we did.
On Monday, I was teaching and a little girl asked to get by me. I moved my knee to the side and it popped. The ambulance came and got me from work and took me to the hospital.
On my way to the hospital, I text Hanna's father to make sure he can pick her up from school. He text and said he would get her.
Then 15 minutes later, he texts me and says "Just seen on FB there was a fire last night at the house, They evacuated the building" I was being rolled into the ER for my knee and I replied "What house?" He replied "Doesn't say just says top floor and multiple units." My heart sinks and I stopped breathing, because I live on the top floor. The nurse that was taking my blood pressure says "OMG that cant be right, your blood pressure is 46/57. You ok?" I said "I think my home might have been in a fire."
Duane said he was already on his way to my building to see what was going on and get me information.
I called my apartment's management company and told them I hadnt been home the night before but I read that there was a fire on the top floor and I was wondering if my home was involved in the fire. The woman, Sarah, puts me on hold and comes back on the phone and demands "WHO did you LET in YOUR HOME last night?" I said "Excuse me? Was there a fire at my place?" She repeated herself and refused to answer the question. Frustrated and anxious I said "I have the only keys to that place, no one was there last night! WAS THE FIRE IN MY PLACE?" She puts me on hold for about 4 minutes without answering my question. Comes back on the phone, says "Yes it was your home that was on fire. Management will call you back later."
I was heartbroken, in shock, sobbing, and had more questions than anwers. Was anyone hurt? Are my neighbors ok? How bad was the fire? Do I have anything left? How will Hanna deal with this? Is Hanna's cat alive? How am I going to get up to the apartment with my knee like this?
I called Duane sobbing and told him it WAS my place.
I said please just come get me from the hospital.
He didn't listen to me, cause he knew that I would want real information. He got to the apartment to find...
The super's son let Duane in to see what happened.
My turtles in soot and black water
Ashes all over the living room floor. The hallway leading to my daughter's room...
.
Our daughter's room....
As he leaves, he sees the kitchen...with my daughter's cat, Tux, dead on the table.
The firemen found Tux's tail hanging out from under my bed as they were leaving and tried to revive him on the kitchen table. But it was too late...
(Heart broken cause he knows how much Hanna loves Tux and how they were like siblings that would fight and make up and play with each other. They were a hilarious duo!)
He came to the hospital and showed me the pictures. I was in total shock.
We picked Hanna up at the school that she goes to and that I have taught at for my daughter's entire life, to be greeted with immediate love and support. Anyone that knows Hanna, knows that she is a thinker and craves information.
Duane explained to Hanna why I was on crutches.
My wonderful friend, and social worker, helped us talk to Hanna about the fire and her beloved cat passing away. She obviously was very upset. We explained the little that we knew and told her there were some things we just didn't know yet. But that we would keep her updated every step of the way. We took her to her Nana's house so we could deal with the apartment.
Duane took me to my building. As he helped me up the stairs I noticed the glass busted out of stair wells starting on the 2nd floor and all the way up to the roof. From the stairs on the 2nd floor I look up and see all my windows boarded up. The burnt fire smell get stronger and thicker each floor we go up. I reach my door and its wide open. Men wear carrying large burnt boards from the roof down the stairs. The smell was just all consuming. My body started shaking, my breathe shallowed as I took each step down the entry hallway into my now dark grey and black home.
Things we thrown everywhere. The firemen had been told a little girl and woman lived in the home with the fire and came in to come save us. They couldn't see through the black smoke and pulled all my windows into the apartment in order to see. Threw furniture out of their way in an effort to get to the burning room that they thought contained my little girl. I walked through the mess to my daughter's room. I could barely see, my ears were ringing, my head started spinning, I could barely catch my breath, Her room was totally burned I could barely recognize what was what. 3/4 of her room just gone. With 1 exception, one closet in her room was used as a storage closet, I kept all the family albums and pictures in there. That closet was amazingly NOT touched by this fire that reduced the rest of the room to ruins. What a blessing! I look up and see a small portion of burnt wood and that there is basically no ceiling left. The firemen took the roof off her room. There is a huge whole in the building! My ears continue to ring, my body is shaking.
Duane helps me to my room to look around. My windows, frame and all, had been pulled in and onto my bed. The room has dark grey and black soot all over everything. Everything is thrown everywhere. I look at my bed. Something doesn't make sense. I see an old family bible which was in a whole other room, broken open, the pages of the bible were open.
I see my jewerly box drawer on the bed empty except for a few pieces. The jewelry box itself now on a different shelf with missing drawers.
My wallet open and strewn all over the bed. Earring boxes open and empty. Purses pulled out of my closet inside out on the floor. All my drawers open. I look back in the living room and realize furniture that was fine and not knocked over or moved at all, was now open and all the belongings were out and some things were missing.
I thought maybe I was crazy and just not thinking right. Then I asked to see the pictures that Duane took at 11 am that day.
My bedroom at 11am. Notice the closet door shut. The bed has my windows in but the place is not destroyed totally.
My bedroom at 4:30pm the same day.
It was obvious that someone had taken their time in the last 5 hours. They had pulled boxes out, taken things out of storage spots, thrown them around, and gone through the belongings I had, that could have been kept. Whoever did this created an even bigger mess!
I felt so violated.
No one informed me that my place had a fire. When I did call and ask, they give me a hard time and dont answer my simple question. Now someone has done this, before I can even SEE the damage from the fire, they come in and take my things. We called the police and reported it. The police were also wondering why the home had not been secured and said that it was the super's responsibility to secure the apartment.
To me, I dont care about the belongings that someone took, because for many hours I didn't know if I would have ANY belongings left. I'm blessed to be able to try to clean some what I do have left. It just felt so violating to have had someone come in and not have any compassion for the home we created or the occupants of that home, especially during a time like this.
The bigger picture is we are BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE to not have been there. We are blessed to have life. We are blessed to have this opportunity to start a new chapter. This will be a great lesson in my daughter's life about resiliency and the power of love and compassion in one's life.
Tux helping Hanna on the computer
Tux trying to wake Hanna up.
Funds are needed as soon as possible for immediate needs like clothes and starting the clean up process. The funds for a new apartment will probably been needed within the next month or so.
This page was created after an overwhelming and heart warming number of people expressed their desire to help in any way they could. This was made in order to make that process easier for everyone. Your love and support have made it so much easier for us to recover from this and move onward and upward with our lives.
May you be blessed 10 times over for your kindness!
For those of you, wanting to know "the story" of how all this unfolded you can keep reading....
Sunday night, November 22, 2015, Hanna and I decided to visit Duane's house (Hanna's father, my recent ex-husband) and we ended up spending the night. Thank God we did.
On Monday, I was teaching and a little girl asked to get by me. I moved my knee to the side and it popped. The ambulance came and got me from work and took me to the hospital.
On my way to the hospital, I text Hanna's father to make sure he can pick her up from school. He text and said he would get her.
Then 15 minutes later, he texts me and says "Just seen on FB there was a fire last night at the house, They evacuated the building" I was being rolled into the ER for my knee and I replied "What house?" He replied "Doesn't say just says top floor and multiple units." My heart sinks and I stopped breathing, because I live on the top floor. The nurse that was taking my blood pressure says "OMG that cant be right, your blood pressure is 46/57. You ok?" I said "I think my home might have been in a fire."
Duane said he was already on his way to my building to see what was going on and get me information.
I called my apartment's management company and told them I hadnt been home the night before but I read that there was a fire on the top floor and I was wondering if my home was involved in the fire. The woman, Sarah, puts me on hold and comes back on the phone and demands "WHO did you LET in YOUR HOME last night?" I said "Excuse me? Was there a fire at my place?" She repeated herself and refused to answer the question. Frustrated and anxious I said "I have the only keys to that place, no one was there last night! WAS THE FIRE IN MY PLACE?" She puts me on hold for about 4 minutes without answering my question. Comes back on the phone, says "Yes it was your home that was on fire. Management will call you back later."
I was heartbroken, in shock, sobbing, and had more questions than anwers. Was anyone hurt? Are my neighbors ok? How bad was the fire? Do I have anything left? How will Hanna deal with this? Is Hanna's cat alive? How am I going to get up to the apartment with my knee like this?
I called Duane sobbing and told him it WAS my place.
I said please just come get me from the hospital.
He didn't listen to me, cause he knew that I would want real information. He got to the apartment to find...
The super's son let Duane in to see what happened.
My turtles in soot and black water
Ashes all over the living room floor. The hallway leading to my daughter's room...
.
Our daughter's room....
As he leaves, he sees the kitchen...with my daughter's cat, Tux, dead on the table.
The firemen found Tux's tail hanging out from under my bed as they were leaving and tried to revive him on the kitchen table. But it was too late...
(Heart broken cause he knows how much Hanna loves Tux and how they were like siblings that would fight and make up and play with each other. They were a hilarious duo!)
He came to the hospital and showed me the pictures. I was in total shock.
We picked Hanna up at the school that she goes to and that I have taught at for my daughter's entire life, to be greeted with immediate love and support. Anyone that knows Hanna, knows that she is a thinker and craves information.
Duane explained to Hanna why I was on crutches.
My wonderful friend, and social worker, helped us talk to Hanna about the fire and her beloved cat passing away. She obviously was very upset. We explained the little that we knew and told her there were some things we just didn't know yet. But that we would keep her updated every step of the way. We took her to her Nana's house so we could deal with the apartment.
Duane took me to my building. As he helped me up the stairs I noticed the glass busted out of stair wells starting on the 2nd floor and all the way up to the roof. From the stairs on the 2nd floor I look up and see all my windows boarded up. The burnt fire smell get stronger and thicker each floor we go up. I reach my door and its wide open. Men wear carrying large burnt boards from the roof down the stairs. The smell was just all consuming. My body started shaking, my breathe shallowed as I took each step down the entry hallway into my now dark grey and black home.
Things we thrown everywhere. The firemen had been told a little girl and woman lived in the home with the fire and came in to come save us. They couldn't see through the black smoke and pulled all my windows into the apartment in order to see. Threw furniture out of their way in an effort to get to the burning room that they thought contained my little girl. I walked through the mess to my daughter's room. I could barely see, my ears were ringing, my head started spinning, I could barely catch my breath, Her room was totally burned I could barely recognize what was what. 3/4 of her room just gone. With 1 exception, one closet in her room was used as a storage closet, I kept all the family albums and pictures in there. That closet was amazingly NOT touched by this fire that reduced the rest of the room to ruins. What a blessing! I look up and see a small portion of burnt wood and that there is basically no ceiling left. The firemen took the roof off her room. There is a huge whole in the building! My ears continue to ring, my body is shaking.
Duane helps me to my room to look around. My windows, frame and all, had been pulled in and onto my bed. The room has dark grey and black soot all over everything. Everything is thrown everywhere. I look at my bed. Something doesn't make sense. I see an old family bible which was in a whole other room, broken open, the pages of the bible were open.
I see my jewerly box drawer on the bed empty except for a few pieces. The jewelry box itself now on a different shelf with missing drawers.
My wallet open and strewn all over the bed. Earring boxes open and empty. Purses pulled out of my closet inside out on the floor. All my drawers open. I look back in the living room and realize furniture that was fine and not knocked over or moved at all, was now open and all the belongings were out and some things were missing.
I thought maybe I was crazy and just not thinking right. Then I asked to see the pictures that Duane took at 11 am that day.
My bedroom at 11am. Notice the closet door shut. The bed has my windows in but the place is not destroyed totally.
My bedroom at 4:30pm the same day.
It was obvious that someone had taken their time in the last 5 hours. They had pulled boxes out, taken things out of storage spots, thrown them around, and gone through the belongings I had, that could have been kept. Whoever did this created an even bigger mess!
I felt so violated.
No one informed me that my place had a fire. When I did call and ask, they give me a hard time and dont answer my simple question. Now someone has done this, before I can even SEE the damage from the fire, they come in and take my things. We called the police and reported it. The police were also wondering why the home had not been secured and said that it was the super's responsibility to secure the apartment.
To me, I dont care about the belongings that someone took, because for many hours I didn't know if I would have ANY belongings left. I'm blessed to be able to try to clean some what I do have left. It just felt so violating to have had someone come in and not have any compassion for the home we created or the occupants of that home, especially during a time like this.
The bigger picture is we are BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE to not have been there. We are blessed to have life. We are blessed to have this opportunity to start a new chapter. This will be a great lesson in my daughter's life about resiliency and the power of love and compassion in one's life.
Tux helping Hanna on the computer
Tux trying to wake Hanna up.Organizer
Kathryn Hailey
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY