Lisa Denker House Fire Recovery

Like many contemporary Americans, Lisa Denker works seven days a week at multiple jobs and jots a note when a light bulb burns out because she has to budget carefully to replace it. During the wind storm early Friday morning, November 4th, every bulb blew, and every electrical device, and her house’s plumbing (yes, the water pipes) caught fire when part of a neighbor’s tree fell on the main power line, tearing it--electrical box and all--from where it entered Lisa's house. Lisa and her son woke from sleep and ran between rooms looking for the source of the smoke, not knowing that the burning was inside the walls. In the kitchen, Lisa saw sparks jetting from under the dishwasher, and when she opened the under-sink cabinet the pipes were in flames. For more than half a decade, she had been enlisting whatever help she could find to convince her neighbors that their tree was endangering her house, and now calamity had arrived.

While Lisa’s insurance company fights with the neighbors’ company over who is going to pay, Lisa is stuck navigating emergency finances and hoping one day to be reimbursed, at least for part of them. Of immediate concern are first/last/deposit on a rental home (the firefighters said to expect to be displaced for no less than six months), boarding for her dogs if the rental isn’t pet-friendly, cleanup costs including (not insignificantly) whatever laundry can be salvaged, meals while she and her son are in motel lodging, and lost hours at her jobs.

Among Lisa’s fans are those of us who work with her and know her as the one who wrangles the chaos inherent in bureaucracies. We want to help, and we want to open the “help pipeline” to everyone whose lives Lisa improves in her roles as colleague, volunteer, Zumba instructor, sports coach, and all-around good egg. Please join us in contributing support as she navigates this daunting road.

All funds, minus GoFundMe transaction fees, will go directly to Lisa Denker.