Fire destroys Irondequoit house

To my family, friends, coworkers and neighbors:

I’ve initiated this campaign on behalf of my new next door neighbors who lost the majority of their possessions when their rental home was destroyed by fire over the Memorial Day weekend. USMC Staff Sergeant JJ Welling, wife Shauna and their two-year old daughter Silver recently relocated from California to the Rochester area, where JJ is currently serving as a recruiter with Marine Corps Recruiting Sub-Station Rochester.

Fortunately the Wellings, including Shauna’s mother and father who were visiting over the holiday weekend, escaped the early morning fire unharmed when awakened by smoke alarms. Given the intensity of the rapidly moving fire, there was only enough time to get out and virtually everything they’d just moved into the house was lost to the fire.

JJ is a 15 year Marine Corps veteran. While serving as an F/A-18 Hornet aviation electrician with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323 (VMFA 323), JJ deployed immediately after 9/11 and then twice more as his squadron participated in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Shauna’s father Steve is a retired Master Gunnery Sergeant, also having served 23 years in the Corps.

As my neighbors for only about a month, it was fun to witness this young family’s excitement at moving into their new home. I felt fortunate to have gotten good neighbors, and was really looking forward to getting to know them better. I’d really appreciate it if you could spare a few bucks to help get JJ’s family back on their feet.

Thank you,

Chris Wacker

*****Note for those of you who would like to help but would rather not do it online, know me personally and are local - I'd be glad to take cash contributions (gofundme refers to these as 'offline' contributions). Gofundme provides a mechanism for recording the offline contributions towards the campaign goal along with your name (unless you prefer to remain anonymous).