Hello, my name is Thomas Wilson.
It's been quite the week - this past Monday, my wife, my mother, and I rushed out of our apartment at 4 am amidst smoke and flames that threatened all the apartments on our block.
We watched the firefighters put out the fire that claimed at least two residences and worked with the Red Cross to gain temporary shelter while we waited to hear from our landlord about how we would move forward from here. We were fortunate - no one lost their lives, no one was hurt, and aside from smoke damage and loss of power and water, our apartment still stood. We had hoped to be back under our roof in a few days.
This is no longer the case. Our landlord condemned my home of 30+ years within two days of the fire, and they are firm in their refusal to assist us in finding a new home. My mother is particularly disheartened, but none of us are deterred - God has seen us through tough times before, and he will again.
This past year was trying for so many - we are doing our best to manage on our own in terms of food, maintaining our current full-time jobs, etc. Friends and family have reached out to ask how they can help, and this is our answer. If you can give, we would be grateful for your assistance - these funds would maintain our current means of shelter while we locate our new residence. Funds would also go towards the initial safety deposit for that residence and storage for the furniture from our now condemned previous apartment. The complex has 30 days to vacate our home, despite having limited our access to retrieve our belongings as they see fit.
Thank you for taking the time to read this— I remain hopeful that my family and I will move on to somewhere better than before, and this is just another trial life has thrown our way. Again, any donation to helping us get our lives back would be greatly appreciated.