Help Pete and Alex Rebuild After Fire

Alex Litas is organizing this fundraiser.

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Dear Friends and Community,

We are reaching out with heavy hearts to share a recent tragedy that struck our small homestead. In the early morning hours of Mon 11/04/24, we woke up because our RV had lost power. When Pete went out to investigate, he discovered smoke coming from our shipping container. We called 911, and the volunteer Fire Dept responded to our call. Once they were there and ready, we unlocked and opened the shipping container – and if you've ever seen the movie 'Backdraft', you know what happened next: all was quiet, but a few seconds later, the fire roared out of the open doors. The shipping container that housed the heart of our homestead was on fire! The amazing men of the fire department did their job and after about 2 hours they were able to put out the fire – no easy task with lithium-ion phosphate batteries!

Our Story

We are a dedicated couple who left the hustle and bustle of city life to pursue a dream of sustainability and self-reliance on our small homestead. Our vision was simple but powerful: to build a self-sufficient life from the ground up, relying on renewable energy, rainwater collection, the fruits of our labor and the support of a wonderful community.

This container was more than just a storage unit—it contained the entire electrical setup for our solar array, including battery packs and inverters; the water filtration system; essential tools, supplies and small machinery; our extra freezer and small fridge; it functioned as the laundry room with our washer/dryer. The loss has left us in a dire situation, as it threatens both the progress of building our home and the continuity of Pete's handyman business.

The Immediate Impact

Luckily, our RV, which we currently call home, was spared from the flames, and our cherished pets—Loki, Olive, Kitty and the chickens—are safe and unharmed. We are grateful beyond words for this, as it reminds us that while we've lost things, we haven't lost everything.

Thankfully, we have grid power to the RV, allowing us to make the decision to solely focus on building our home first instead of rebuilding the solar array, which was a temporary setup until we could outfit the house with solar.

We've spent the last few days going through the container to determine what's salvageable and what's too damaged to keep. I'm happy to report that the washer/dryer, small fridge and freeze all still work! They may not look pretty, but then again, homesteading is not always pretty ;) The list of lost tools and supplies is too long to list here; we also lost animal feed and bedding, along with some gardening supplies.

How You Can Help

We are humbly asking for your help to recover from this devastating setback. Your donations will go directly towards purchasing the essential tools and supplies we need to get back on our feet. Specifically, the funds will be used to:

Pay for the dumpster and disposal of hazardous waste
Rebuild the workshop, laundry room and tool storage in the container
Re-insulate the water filtration system to keep the waterlines from freezing in winter
Replace the necessary tools and supplies for both the business and homes construction
Purchase replacement solar power components

All of this needs to happen while we also continue to build our home.

Any amount you can contribute will make a significant difference in helping us rebuild not just our homestead, but our lives and livelihood.

Thank You

We are incredibly grateful for your support and generosity during this challenging time. With your help, we believe we can rise from this setback and continue to build the sustainable, self-reliant life we dream of.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

With gratitude and hope,

Pete and Alex

Slice of Life Homestead