On Friday night, 10/31/2025, our friend Cheryl's apartment building had a catastrophic fire. Blessedly, neither Cheryl nor her dog Chloe were home (and no one who was inside of the building was hurt), but the origin of the fire was the building attic space directly above Cheryl's apartment, making her apartment and most of the contents a total loss. While most of her neighbors are able to move the contents of their apartments into new buildings, Cheryl is faced with rebuilding her life from next to nothing. While she will be able to access some renter's insurance benefits, there will be many expenses she will have to lay out up front, and many that will not be covered at all.

Any one who knows Cheryl knows that in times of crisis, she shows up for each and every one of us, using her "social worker voice" and her calm presence, and is always willing to give you the literal sweatshirt off her back. Over the next few months, she will have many needs, but I wanted to start somewhere, with the ability to offer her some immediate funds to start rebuilding.