On June 24, 2026, Tanya Hernandez-Garzon, founder of Queen Bee Food Pantry on Whidbey Island, and her family lost their home when a neighbor's house caught fire and both homes exploded. Fire fighters rescued their 5 special needs dogs who were in the home at the time.

Due to the circumstances next door, a criminal investigation is underway. In the meantime, the family needs replacement housing, food, clothing, and more.

This family gives to our local community non-stop via their Food Pantry, their special Thanksgiving "baskets" (an entire meal for a family!), their winter holidays gift program, and behind the scenes emergency food replacement after other people have experienced fires or other disasters.

Now they need support from us. Let's rally around them!

6/29/26 UPDATE

If you live near this location and do a drive by, you might think Tanya & Felix's house looks pretty good. And it does look pretty decent!

Today, however today an insurance adjuster came thinking he would spend 40 minutes there. Four hours later he was ready to wrap up! It will take a day or two to receive the report to find out if either the house and/or the Queen Bee Food Pantry original location will be repairable or a total losses.

The house was literally blown off its foundation, the interior and exterior doors were blown off their hinges. The refrigerators' and freezers' doors were blown off. The destruction is, frankly, mind-blowing.

We will continue to update you as we learn more.

❤️

7/24/2026

It's been slightly over a month since this disaster rocked the Hernandez-Garzon household. During the blur of insurance adjusters and claims, the family has also been able to find a new location for Queen Bee Food Pantry!

While that has been tremendous news, the news on the animals is not so good. While Charlie Brown has fully recovered, Fiona has been suffering with her ears since June 24th. Fiona went back to the vet today and her ear drum is swollen again and the infection is still there. The vet believes it’s extremely painful for her and that she needs surgery asap. Tanya is meeting with the surgeon as soon as she can but is scared as the surgery costs around $5,000. The biggest fear is that they will be unable to come up with the money and need to put 16 year old Yarel's dog to sleep. The family is devastated that Fiona is still suffering, is still having to be on anti-inflammatory meds and 2 different antibiotics. If you're at all able to help with this new need, please do! (We may be able to set up a fund directly with SW Animal Clinic who has been caring for Fiona but we aren't sure yet.)