Above are my parents, Carole and Bob, out with friends about 20 years ago.

I have been living with my parents for a number of years to support them as I can while Dad faces the pains of aging and caring for Mom with advanced dementia.

As many of you know, my parents' home sits on the Eaton Fire border that burned most of Altadena on January 7, 2025. Amazingly, my parents' home was relatively untouched, but in need for a great deal of remedy and repair. After months of dealing with multiple vendors, Nina, our insurance adjuster and a true Godsend, put us in touch with a local ServePro franchise. Not only did this local ServePro finally have an opening, it is one of AAA's preferred providers and can also address ALL our repair needs, eliminating our need for multiple vendors to address the windows, the roof, the fence and gates, etc. Although it was a long wait to connect, we are incredibly grateful for Amy, our ServePro's owner, and Nina for thoroughly assessing what needs to be addressed and ensuring that insurance properly covers all the work and damage. Our initial $30,000 AAA assessment for repairs and has more than triple with no insurance pushback along the way.

Yet, our home has a number needed upgrades not covered by insurance either due to not having been damaged or are able to be cleaned rather than replaced. ServPro is cleaning all the house surfaces, repainting the walls and ceilings and replacing all the carpet. We are paying other upgrades that left done will remain in stark contrast to the work being completed; however, there is one upgrade that is beyond our budget - a walk-in shower. It is increasingly difficult for Mom and Dad to get in and out of our bathtub shower. Dad wanted this upgrade prior to the fire, and I would like to bless my parents by having this completed alongside the rest of the house. Yet the "shower funds" are now covering much-needed upgrades not covered by insurance, such as the well aged kitchen and bathroom flooring, the worn out front and back doors, and an upgraded air filtration system as were surrounded by dirt lots and anticipate several years of construction pollution around our home, sitting at one our neighborhood's busiest corners.

Below is a photo I took of Mom & Dad in January while at a hotel after the Eaton Fire. I love the smiles on their faces. Dad thinks they look like invalids lying in bed.

The palm leaf photo was taken for Palm Sunday during COVID, April 2020. Both a great photo of Mom and Dad, and taken in our front yard, showing off its natural beauty before the fire.