Thank You Sunday Brunch - Tragic Fire Overcome

[Jzmackenzie]

We made the following appeal this morning at Sunday Brunch. With the donations we received, we bought 62 items of used clothing, a teddy bear, and a doll for a mother and her four daughters (preschool primaria, secondaria, and prepa). We also got a 6 burner stove top and solar oven for mom; she was teary eyed when we told her she could cook again!

Hard-working Dad wants our our hand-me-downs. Dad has been taking 3 busses to get from in-laws home to Cajones to feed the puppies at their burned out home.

The reason for this letter is an appeal for your help for one of our neighbor families who suffered the total loss of everything they owned in a fire last Monday. As you can see in the attached photos their house was completely gutted. The loss was caused by a wind driven grass fire which ignited the wooden window frames letting the flames into the house. Fortunately, in one way, no one was home so no injuries, but no one could give the alarm soon enough and by the time neighbors saw the smoke it was already too late, their simple one room home and contents were gone in a matter of minutes.

If there is a bit of good news it is that the fire moved so fast that the concrete and brick walls, ceiling, and floor were not destroyed and can be restored. I verified that myself today. A wood and tar paper room addition was gone in seconds!

We've known this family, dad, mom, four kids since we moved here (five years ago). Dad is a hard working guy, steady, but low paying, job in town. Mom is a stay-at-home who picks up part time domestic work when she can and always sells vitamins to her neighbors. No matter how tight things have gotten for them they have never asked for a hand out, including now. They are wonderful parents who do everything possible for their kids including transporting them to a better school in another town, consequently we feel they deserve a big helping hand to get back on their feet. This simply isn't going to be possible on our own.

What we've been able to do so far is to arrange for a front loader and dump truck to remove the ashes and ruined furniture, replaced the girls school supplies and uniforms, and started a clothing drive for all the family. We will also donate enough paint and supplies to redo the house inside and out. After that we need to raise the funds for rebuilding, that's where we are hoping that, even with the crappy economic situation, you can help a little bit with cast-off items.


Yes, you can follow our PayPal link:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=TKTK5LSF7VVFU

Thank you,

Don, Jacquie, and Jolene

[Mykul]

We are not there yet so cannot assist with items but would be happy to send a few dollars if there is some way to donate.