Hey folks, a terrible tragedy just happened to a local family. Their home was burned to the ground right here in our 4042 area. Thankfully no one was hurt but they have nothing left. Just talked to one of the neighborhood board people, Michelle, and she said they need clothes really bad. So far i know that the daughter wears an adult 12-14, the Dad wears a mens 2x and the son is 16 but not sure of the size but he is an average size 16 yo. The mom i don't know about yet but if you have anything you can donate to get these folks some clothes, it would be a blessing to them. You can contact Michelle at 919-559-1018 as she is organizing the effort to help them out and i will be more than happy to meet anyone anytime to pick up whatever you feel lead to do, just send me a pm. Michelle will be letting me know more specifics on what they may need as soon as she knows. Right now the firemen are still there trying to put out the blaze. Please keep this family in your prayers.
That's horrible. I saw it on WRAL and knew just where they were talking about. I'm going to go through stuff and will get up with either you or Michelle for drop off tomorrow. Let us know if there is anything else they need right away. :grouphug:
How horrible, DS has been in that neighborhood all day visiting a friend. I'm sure he's got stuff in his closet that I can get together for the 16yo
Husband just went through the closet. We have several 2X shirts for the father. We also have some clothing for the 16yo boy. I will contact Michelle tomorrow. Also, let us know if they need furniture or household items. Coming from a big household, we always have spares of everything. We were going to donate a lot to the tornado relief effort but our church already collected. Let us know if there is anything else they need but I'm assuming immediate need would indeed be clothing. So sorry. We watched our neighbor's house burn down years ago in the middle of the night after lightening hit it. Never forget that. Thanks for letting us know. Stephanie-- mom to 7
Oh, no ... I just had a thought .... underwear? Socks? Shoes? I'd planned on running to WalMart this morning ... I'll pick up a gift card to donate so the family or someone close to them can pick up some of those necessities that we take for granted.
A family we are close to had their home destroyed in a recent tornado and they have set up a website and way to donate directly to a bank account that has been set up for the family. This is the link to site they used to help keep all of us organized as to what the family's current needs are, bank account link, pictures of progress, etc. Thought it might be useful to help keep people organized if this family needs something like this: http://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/ Our friends have insurance (not sure if this family does or not), but they lost everything and there were certain things they needed right away in their case, even with insurance, including underwear and clothes, shoes, they lost their laptop which made it difficult immediately after to look up information, etc., they lost many of their pictures and asked for copies if anyone had any of pictures of their children. They also found useful gift cards for restaurants, since cooking was difficult with none of their kitchen items, and not convenient immediately after since they were staying with another family and also trying to keep their kids' lives as normal as possible with their activities. They even needed basic toiletry items--deodorant, tampons, toothbrushes, etc. Insurance will eventually cover most of their loss, but not all, and the time immediately after it was difficult to replace all of those needs before the first check was cut. Also a few toys for the kids, especially a replacement of a favorite toy or game that was lost, they appreciated.
Standard offer for fire/tornado-we are open 32 hours a week to help Since 2003, the fire certificate, which should be issued immediately, will let them look through our warehouse and get whatever they want immediately-to the usual dollar limit. Basic Needs is open Monday 1-9; Wed, Thurs, and Sat 9-5. Johnston County tornado victims may be referred by any church, school, or agency. Disaster offers are limited to one visit within 30 days of the event. 14,000 clothing items, small herd of housewares, etc. Is it possible no church, school, or agency referred them? I left Basic Needs about 7 on Saturday and will open at 1 today.
DD#1 is in HOSA with the daughter. She talked to her this weekend and she said that literally, so many donations are pouring in, they don't know what they have and what they don't have. DD was offering products like new make-up and health care items, and the daughter told her that although it is GREATLY appreciated, they don't know what they need until they start sorting through the donations. In all honesty, having worked in the insurance field for many years, I would say if you want to help, gift cards are probably best. Imagine losing everything you've got, wouldn't you want to be able to go buy your own underwear? I'm not negating the donations that have come in, please don't think that. And they still will probably need and use actual goods you donate, but a $25 gift card from Target is alot easier to keep track of for victims of fire, and goes a little further.
I imagine that's part of the problem with donations ... so many things coming in (which is a blessing!) ..but when you've lost your house, you have nowhere to PUT things except to borrow space at friends' houses, temporary storage, etc. Now that I think about it ... I have a completely empty room, I haven't done anything with since the ex moved out. My intention is to set it up as a spare bedroom, just haven't had the extra $$. Do ya think they need space to store things temporarily? I picked up a walmart gift card to donate ... but today is my evil day of work (mondays are the worst!). I'll see if I can meet up with Kaci or Michelle or someone in the next few days.
Just another suggestion...perhaps gift cards to local restaurants, even fast food chains may be helpful. I would imagine they are having to eat out quite a bit and this could help?
Thank you everyone for the kinds words, offers to help, etc. I have spoken to the Clark Family. I will speak to them this evening and get a better feel for what might help them the most. I will get back to everyone in the morning. As for gift cards, I think it is a great idea ! And thank you again for all the positive comments from our awesome neighbors ! And a special thanks to Karen Michelle 559-1018
Thanks Michelle for filling everyone in - computer was down all day at work today so i couldn't even check it!
