Help the Nixon Family After Devastating House Fire

On Tuesday April 8th, the Nixon family home caught fire and was destroyed. Elizabeth, Colby, and their two young children were at work and school when it happened. Their dog Otis was rescued by a neighbor, but their home was completely lost. They have a toddler not yet two, and a five year old who turns six next week. The cause of the fire has been identified by the fire crew as coming from likely an electrical malfunction near where their TV and modem were. Fortunately no other homes were affected.

This tragedy comes at a time when their family is already struggling and under unusual amounts of stress. Both sets of Elizabeth’s and Colby’s parents have been in and out of the hospital in the last two weeks, suffering a heart attack, a battle against an aggressive form of cancer, a bad fall and hip replacement surgery. Elizabeth and Colby Nixon both work full-time as educators; Colby teaching Spanish at a community college and Elizabeth at a private school in San Mateo County. Their small home was in the tiny community of La Honda, which is still accessible to the Peninsula area of San Mateo county, to remain within a 40 minutes commute to their jobs. They do not have enough savings on hand to cover the sudden high expense of a rental, first and last month and deposit.

La Honda is considered to be a high danger wildfire risk area, according to insurance plans. Because of this, their insurance was covered by the "California FAIR Plan." "The FAIR Plan" is available to California residents and businesses in urban and rural areas who cannot obtain insurance through a regular insurance company. Coverage is ok but not the same as standard insurance, which many of us in CA no longer have access to, due to location.

The Nixon family is currently displaced, at a hotel, and trying to keep things as stable as possible for their young children in the midst of this crisis. Their closest family (including us) live 2-3 hours away, so we are doing our best to help from a distance. Colby's parents are in assisted living and live out of state.

If you can help in any way, financially, by sharing this, or simply with kind words, we would be so grateful. We are raising funds to help them cover immediate essentials: temporary housing, clothes, toiletries, kids’ needs, food, replacement of critical documents, and longer-term support to begin rebuilding their lives. Every dollar will go directly to their family. Thank you for holding their family in your hearts. If anything, birthday presents for their son turning 6 next week. Luckily, they celebrated early last weekend, and some of the gifts he received at that party were in their car. All they have is what was in their cars that day.

This was written by Lily Wilson, sister-in law to Elizabeth, and auntie to their two children. My husband Peter (Elizabeth's brother) and I live in Calistoga, and we are organizing this go-fund-me because its the best thing we can do right away, to get things moving for them. This is a horrible tragedy amidst so much happening in the world, and we appreciate anything you can do.