My name is Nancie Cruise and recently my family and I lost our home in the Los Angeles fire. Our condo was on sunset, just a hill away from where the fire was.

We lost everything, from electronics to valuable belongings you can't even put a price on (one of which was the ashes for my lost cat.)

I grew up in that condo since I was an infant; my mom took me home to that condo and my family raised me there.

To lose something I thought I'd always be able to go back to is devastating to say the least. I've been going between the emotions of wanting to cry to just being unbelievably angry.

I'm hoping that this money will lighten the burden. I intend to save as much of it as possible, only spending what I need to on clothing and food. When the time comes and I find a reasonably priced apartment, I plan on putting most of the money towards keeping a roof over my head. In fact, a majority of this money is going to be saved until I can find an affordable place to live.

So far I've bought a few clothing items for myself and my uncle, and have also gotten some clothes from volunteers. We're doing out best out here to survive.

I've been lucky and I'm currently staying with a friend until I figure something for myself out. His family has been more than wonderful to me and I'm so happy I have the friends that are in my life.

Hopefully i can reach my goal and get a low-income apartment.

Thank you all for taking the time to donate and read my story, thank you so much.