On Monday our close friends John and Stephanie Smith had extensive damage to their home as a result of a fire in their backyard.    

 You may not need to ask who these two are if your from the area- Their home sits beautifully on a corner lot landscaped with bright colorful flowers. If you look closely, you will always see 4 dog noses smearing up that big window making sure they aren't missing out on anything going on!  John and Stephanie are both born and raised here in Griffith being married over 20 years. John is our quiet teddy bear friend that we depend on greatly for his tasty meals. The only thing John loves more than his cooking are his pups! Stephanie's passion is decorating- In between making sure we have the best themed parties, you will see Stephanie getting walked around town by her 4 well behaved rescue dogs!   

Our friends are both so humble and never wanted to ask for help. The amount of love they have received not only from their friends, but from the town. The Fire Dept Volunteers, Animal rescues, even strangers that have reached out, have helped them find comfort in this terrible situation . 

 Their home: Very few items were salvageable. Think about starting your day off as you always do & before you know it, your home is destroyed within 15 minutes. The memories that you've made in that kitchen, gone. The pictures hanging in the hallway that once made you smile, gone. Those little keepsakes & pictures you keep at the top of your closet, gone. Its all gone. The entire bedroom closet was burnt to ashes leaving nothing.  By the grace of God, no-one was hurt. If this fire would have happened while they were sleeping, they may not have made it out. Their bedroom is destroyed, yet the Bible still sits next to the bed almost unscathed.

Ways to help: 

Prayer. Please. 

Now more than ever, John & Stephanie need the strength to get through this as we know this could have ended differently. Monetary donations will help tremendously at this time, as they are still looking for a place to live while all these things get sorted. 

On behalf of my friends, thank you again to those that have reached out -

  "Sometimes it's easy to lose faith in people and sometimes one act of kindness is all it takes to give you hope again"