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Irvin, Demetria, and Family Fire Relief fund

Hello, my name is Irvin Wheeler, and I work as a union bricklayer in the Chicagoland area.  On the morning of Friday, December 4th, 2020, my family and I were just waking to begin our day. My oldest daughter Arianna, who is a straight A student in the first grade was in the living room preparing for school via e-learning due to COVID-19. Arianna is an energetic, and very intelligent young lady. She truly is wise beyond her years! My youngest daughter, Rachel, is a bright-eyed one year old! She was enjoying her breakfast while their mother, Demetria and I took a moment to get ready for the day. Demetria works as an essential worker in housekeeping at St. James hospital. I recently had surgery a week before and Demetria was scheduled to work that day but was anticipating the weekend for family time. We are a few weeks away from Christmas and of course preparing for the holiday.
 
In the midst of getting ready we heard our 6-year-old daughter scream! Like any mother would, Demetria responded instantly. I was quickly summoned by her cries for help. I ran into our living room with only the pants I had on the night before. I was met by what seemed to be a wall of smoke and my frightened family.
At that moment I knew we needed to evacuate immediately. My family and I made it out the apartment barefoot with nothing but the clothes on our backs that cold morning.
Once we got outside, we did a visible roll call our neighbors, and realized everyone had not made it out. Once I got my family into our car parked out front, I went back into the building and headed to the top floor to assist on getting out my two remaining neighbors. We are all so blessed to have gotten out.  We sat in our car in disbelief, but optimistic that the fire department will save our home. Unfortunately, not due to a lack of effort, the fire burned 5-6 hrs.  The end result was a total loss for my family as well as 26 other families that stayed in our building.

At this time my family is in need of everything. We are displaced and homeless during this holiday season. All I want for my family is a fresh start and normalcy in such a physically and mentally tragic event. We weren’t able to save anything. Whatever you can give, would be a blessing to us. Thanking you in advance!
 
Much love,
 
Irvin, Demetria, and Family!

Fundraising team (2)

Irvin Wheeler
Organizer
Richton Park, IL
Irvin Wheeler
Beneficiary
Iyabo Boyd
Team member
Raised $360 from 10 donations
Demetria Bogan
Team member
Raised $45 from 2 donations

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