February 13th in the afternoon, my brother ran to the grocery store just down the road from our grandma and uncle’s house in Holiday Island. He was gone for less than an hour, and came back to the house burned down. Our uncle, an Air Force veteran, passed away, along with his sweet kitty Molly. Somehow our grandma made it out safely and a neighbor must have called for emergency services.

The house is a total loss, and none of us know what to do, or even where to begin. We are left with unimaginable grief and trauma. My brother had been taking care of them for the past 5 years. We aren’t sure what we need right now, but some of us will be missing work as we try to navigate this. Our grandma and uncle had lived here for the past 20 years, and it’s where we were raised.