Let’s Rally Around Ricky #13 and His Family

Hi everyone — my name is Olivia Riggar, and I’m helping raise support for one of the strongest families I’ve ever met: the Alvarez family.

Ricky, a 9-year-old athlete on our youth football team (jersey #13, nickname “Diablo”), has already lived through more heartache than most adults. When Ricky was just 5 years old, he lost his father — also named Ricky — a man he honors every time he steps onto the football field wearing his dad’s favorite number and nickname.

Now, just two weeks into this football season, tragedy has struck again.

Their home caught fire due to a lithium battery explosion in a neighbor’s shed. Fueled by high winds, the flames spread rapidly — burning their tree, fence, shed, and eventually consuming much of their home. Emily, Ricky’s mom, barely escaped with her car keys, phone, and their two dogs. Good Samaritans saved her neighbor’s dogs. Miraculously, their parrots survived and were rescued by a parrot sanctuary in Cleveland.

The family is safe — but they lost nearly everything. They are now living in an Airbnb with a small kitchen, no appliances, and none of the basics of everyday life. On top of full-time jobs, sports, grief, and the chaos of displacement, this family is doing their best to stay positive and rebuild… but they need our help.

How You Can Help:

Emily isn’t asking for furniture or “stuff.” She just wants help with the basics to feed her kids, keep life moving, and make this traumatic season more manageable.

Your donation will help provide:

I set the fundraiser Goal to $15,000:

This amount will help cover the next 3 months (or longer) of living expenses, school readiness, and post-fire recovery costs. Anything beyond that will be a blessing toward rebuilding their future home.

Every donation, share, and kind word makes a difference. Let’s surround this incredible family with love, strength, and the support they deserve. Ricky’s fight on the field is powerful — but off the field, it’s our turn to suit up for him.

Thank you for your compassion, your generosity, and your prayers. Below is a personal message from Ricky's Mom, Emily Alvarez. Please take the time to read her story and her requests.

— With gratitude,

Olivia Riggar

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Hello Team,

This is Ricky’s mom, Emily Alvarez. Ricky’s # is 13 and his team nickname is “Diablo”. That was his daddy’s favorite number and his daddy’s nickname. He really made me so proud when he chose to be #13 and carry on his dad’s memory through sports. This summer in August will mark 4 years that his daddy passed away. So to say the least, it has been some of the most challenging times of our lives but also some of the most rewarding times of our lives. My children, Noemi and Ricky, were 4 and 5 when their daddy (also named “Ricky”) passed away and now they are 9 and 10; so we are all well adjusted by now but of course sometimes there are bad days sprinkled in here and there but overall we are survivors and I’d say we are all pretty blessed. Football season started this year 2 weeks ago on Monday and on Tuesday we became suddenly homeless due to a house fire. At 2:39pm our home caught on fire, we went into emergency housing that night, this week we moved into an AirNB, and we will remain here until the end of the year once rebuilding is complete. My neighbor's house also caught on fire. Our huge tree went ablaze, the shed, the entire fence. It all happened so quickly. I ran out of the house with just my car keys, cellphone and 2 dogs, Pepper and Canela. Good samaritans broke into my neighbor's house and rescued her 4 dogs. We had a small flock of parrots and their cage was too big to fit out of the door. Somehow they survived all the smoke and a Parrot Rescue Group came that night and brought them to a sanctuary in Cleveland, Ohio. Thank goodness, no one was physically hurt. It could have been so so so so so so so so so much worse. I’m grateful that I was home alone and my kiddos did not have to see their home on fire. Just having to see and smell their home, their toys, and their memories all burnt up to a crisp has been traumatic enough. Navigating a house fire, insurance, working full-time, sports and just “life” in general has been really overwhelming but finally the pieces are coming together and slowly the fog is lifting off of my spirit, body, and mind. Before I forget to mention and if y’all are wondering by now, “what happened”? - the fire inspector said the fire started in the shed from a lithium battery in an e-bike/scooter. Crossed the fence, tree, and then onto my house and the neighbor’s house. The wind was wild that day and it spread with terrifying speed. I’ve been asked many times what people can do to help and to be honest it’s been an accomplishment just making it hour by hour, then day by day. I’m finally at a place to have the mental capacity to sit back and reflect on what my family’s immediate needs are. The best way to help would be with food. We don’t need any material things. All things can be replaced over time but we did lose everything in the kitchen, the refrigerator, the pantry, and most kitchen utensils. The AirNB is great but small. Small fridge, small kitchen, and with so many things on my plate I’d be so appreciative of costco / korger gift-cards, fast-food gift-cards, restaurant gift-cards, or amazon gift cards. Helping me easily feed the kids when I’m home, or being able to give grandpa and grandpa some gift-cards to feed the kids when I’m away for work, and / or helping getting some kitchen appliances, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, school supplies or whatever daily living things I need to immediately function smoothly at the AirNB would be a huge help and make these next few months more doable. Thank you so much for your time spent reading this and thank you in advance for any small motion of support and or kindness in this time. To be honest, the biggest gift would just be to take Ricky’s mind off of this, stay focused on ball, have some play dates, or whatever fun things you can think of.

Sincerely,

Emily Alvarez