Help Cassidy and Justin Restart After House Fire

Hi Everyone,

My name is Cassidy, and I'm creating this in hopes of taking off some financial burden after experiencing a devastating house fire. I lived there for the past 6 years, and this was the first place that felt like “home” in my adulthood. My partner, Justin, moved in 3 years ago, and we cultivated a strong community space over the years. We never thought our lives would be changed so drastically and suddenly that Friday night.

All tenants, guests, and three of the household pets got out before it was too late. Though we are blessed to have made it through without injury, one of our roommate’s dear cats did not. It’s with a heavy heart that I’m sharing this while our friend mourns the loss of a pet.

As you can imagine, the post-traumatic stress from this crisis has been something we have been dealing with in our own ways. Even typing up this story takes an amount of strength I couldn’t muster up until now.

The loss was immeasurable. Although many valuable items were lost, the loss of memories, artwork, journals, heirlooms, pictures, and years' worth of artifacts are irreplaceable and priceless. For those of you who have been a part of making those memories over the last 5+ years, you can imagine how painful it is to be unexpectedly forced to relocate from the community that was built between roommates and visitors over the years.

To paint a picture for those of you who don’t know how I began this 6-year chapter of my life, I’m sharing a brief summary of how it all started back in 2019:

When I first toured the house by myself in 2019, I knew this was the place. My future roommates and I applied for a lease. Just over a year later, a couple of roommates chose to move out for safety reasons due to the pandemic. Even though this increased my rent, I was not ready to move, especially while teaching from home, so I bit the cost and eventually found a subletter.

In 2021, I met the love of my life while visiting home in Wisconsin. In 2022, Justin moved in, and I finally felt truly at home in Minneapolis. The next year, when we thought things couldn't get any better, Justin heard that his old dog was looking for a new home. We eagerly picked up Sweets to join our community in Minneapolis.

We are humbly asking for your help during this incredibly difficult time to support us in our journey to rebuild our lives from scratch. With your contribution, we will be able to find a semblance of relief and be able to replace a fraction of what we once had, which built our foundations. Though we had valuable items such as musical instruments, tools for art, antiques, electronics, and other items which were easily worth 10K, we are only hoping for enough to get us on our feet and alleviate the stress from the event.

We understand that this is not just a difficult time for those like us who experienced a tragic event. Everyone is going through tough times right now; therefore, if you’re able to help, we appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. For those who cannot donate, we totally get it, so just send some good healing vibes regardless :)