Hi friends. For those that don't know me, I'm Nicole and I'm hoping you'll stick with me here for a bit as I swallow my rather enormous sense of pride here and asking for some help. As most of you coming here probably already know, there was a fire at Ann's (aka my Mom) condo building on December 1st. The fire devasted a portion of the building, just on the other side of a firewall from her unit. For some, the destruction was complete and for others, just enough to displace them until their units can be deemed "habitable", and destroy a lot of their belongings with smoke and water. Mom was one of the lucky ones, all things considered. Her cat, Rambo, even luckier as I managed to extract him while escorted by an amazing Kitchener firefighter. We are incredibly relieved that everyone made it out without injury. That all being said, there is damage and there is disruption and there are costs that go along with that. (photo of the unit next to mom's that was destroyed)

The ceilings, walls and flooring (that brand new carpet we just replaced) in half her unit will be removed, including a gut of the bathroom that I just renovated last Christmas. Her bedroom furniture will all need to be replaced as well from both water and smoke damage. We're unsure at this time whether or not the rest of the furniture can just be cleaned or will need to be replaced. Unfortunately, mom didn't have rental insurance that covers her displacement or contents replacement. Her living expenses while we wait for her to be able to get back in and replacement costs for destroyed items, will be out of pocket for us.

We're still not sure when Mom will be able to get back into her apartment so she (and Rambo) are staying with me right now. The best guess we have right now is "months".

There are a lot of people in need at this time of year, and a lot of people that definitely were hit harder than us with this tragic event. The holidays are hard for a lot of people in general, so I totally get it if all you can give is your well wishes and gratitude that everyone is safe. We welcome that immensely, and we wish you and your families all the best this holiday season. If you do have an inclination to donate to mom's fire recovery fund, we will all be incredibly grateful and I promise to hand deliver Grannie Annie's cookies to those folks within my reach.

What I can offer in return is my thanks (and cookies), my well wishes and also my time. If you have a local charity that needs time and hands, I'm here for it. I'm a big believer in giving back where you can...Mom taught me that. So, if you give, I pay it forward.

Love, hugs and gratitude from Ann, Nicole, Devin and Rambo (pictured below).