On Friday, December 19, our apartment building caught fire, resulting in the loss of everything. Within five minutes of being alerted to the flames, the interior was so overheated and full of acrid smoke that very little could be saved. I was able to run back into the building only once. My daughter has known that apartment as her home since she was born five years ago. All of her history, her artwork, her furniture, toys, school achievement records, and all of her clothing that was there was reduced to ash. All of my clothes, family artifacts going back three generations, furniture, medications, and anything else in the building is completely destroyed. I made it out with only the clothes I was wearing. We are in need of help with pretty much everything. Thankfully we have somewhere to stay temporarily. Our immediate needs are clothing and food. Thinking beyond the next few days, we need to put together a deposit for a new rental, we will need literally everything for a kitchen (dishes, cups, pots, flatware, table, chairs, etc.). We will need basic furniture, most importantly a bed for my daughter, bed linens, towels, and more. It feels selfish and it's humiliating to be asking for assistance with any of this, but the truth of the matter is we have nothing. I'm not trying to solicit funds to get top of the line anything. Despite advice from others, I did not want to set up this fund, but I discovered today that getting just some of the basics will be beyond our reach, let alone replacing any of the household necessities for the bigger picture and future. Any support you can offer will help us get back on our feet and provide my daughter with a safe and comfortable home again. Thank you for reading and for any help you can give.