In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the Garner’s home caught fire and burned beyond repair. This is the place the Garner family has called home since 1973. It was not insured and is a total loss. Losing your home and all your belongings at any point is devastating, but the timing could not be any worse for this family. Randy has stage 4 cancer. His PSA has recently climbed to almost 25. Doctors are telling him that he needs to start another round of radiation, as the cancer is showing up in several areas of his bones, lymph nodes, and spine. Kent, Randy’s father and family patriarch, passed away in 2013 after multiple bouts with cancer. Starting over is hard at any time; Ms Elaine is 78 and Randy should be fighting for his life, not for the most basic needs in life. Ms Garner worked for twenty-eight years at Magee Elementary. There is no doubt she had an influence in many young people’s lives. Randy did not work in education, but his house looked like a dorm most days. With four children pretty close in age, Randy’s house was often a haven, hangout, and cafeteria. Like many others, some of the best times I had growing up was spent at Randy’s. He bought, cooked, and served a lot of us meals over the years. His door and pool was always open. To that end, I am asking that you reciprocate some of that goodness. We cannot bring back Randy’s health or priceless family artifacts lost in the fire, but we can pray for Randy and Elaine and do our best to help ease some of their financial burden as they try to pick up the pieces and start over.
Update: 1-22-19 Randy and Elaine are going to take whatever we raise to put towards another place to live. We have experienced great momentum over the past two days! Lets keep it going and get them in another home!
Huge thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to give.