I never thought I would have to do this. I'm still processing it. I'm sure I'm not going to say everything correctly.

Today, Hrothgar's Hoard, my business of the past 10 years, burned to the ground. There was a fire and within minutes the entire building was engulfed in flames. It's gone. There is nothing salvageable. The only thing left is my vehicle, a trailer and inventory that was in the trailer from my last event. Everything else is gone.

I'm hopeful that my insurance will help rebuild. I don't know about that yet. I'm trying to be optimistic. The house survived with little damage, nobody was hurt. It was all just stuff. Stuff can be replaced. My wife has a good job. We will be OK.

But I had four people who worked for me, people who depended my business for their livelihood. Insurance isn't going to cover them. It isn't going to pay their bills. I don't know what assistance will be available for them.

So, I'm asking for a little help so that I can keep at least some funds travelling to them in the short term while we figure out the next steps. Insurance claims, at best, will take several weeks. Several more weeks before I can rebuild anything. Probably be several more weeks before I can get new equipment and materials. There is just too much in the air right now.

I've never used GoFundMe before, donated once or twice but never been on the asking side, so I don't know how this works. Please consider giving something. Proceeds will go to the workers at least until we are back up or until they find new jobs.

If I'm able to, once we are back in operations, I'd be happy to send you one of our products in gratitude.

Thank you,

John

aka Hrothgar