Neighbors of the Greenwood family who lost their home at 108 NW 84th St. in an arson yesterday are gathering donations for the family.
Christie and Jeremiah live right next door to the burned home, at 104 NW 84th St. They are collecting donations for the family, which includes a husband, wife, and four children ranging in age from 4-14. I spoke with Christie this afternoon and she says anyone can leave donations on their front porch.
Christie says neighbors have been stopping by all day to drop things off, although she’s not sure exactly what the family needs since they are currently staying in a hotel. She says the manager at Top Ten Toys came by to tell her he’ll be bringing toys for the children. They’re also working on setting up a fund at a local bank.
Christie says the husband’s name is Sal and he works in construction. He helped her and Jeremiah work on their house a lot when they first moved in. Sal’s family has rented the home for a number of years, but had no renters insurance, so they’ve lost everything.
Christie told me that her contractor was working on her house when he saw the fire and called 911. He also tried to kick in the door to the downstairs, where another man was renting a room. That man had to run through the fire to get outside. He was burned and taken to Harborview with non life-threatening injuries.
She says the fire started in a trash can in the alley. The can was placed directly underneath an overhanging part of the house.
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11 responses so far ↓
1 SPG // Aug 14, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Can you post back here when you get an idea of what they need?
Another suggestion is to post in the Forum of MyBallard.com as they get substantially more traffic and a lot of us East Ballardites follow that blog and would be willing to help out a neighbor.
2 wanna-be dane // Aug 14, 2009 at 9:57 pm
I second that SPG. Please do let us know what will help the most. I don’t check this forum as often as the MyBallard forum. There are many generous folks in Ballard who would likely help.
3 amh98103 // Aug 14, 2009 at 10:28 pm
How about donations of gift cards at Fred Meyers,
Greenwood Market, Safeway, Bartells, or some of the other stores in the area? My husband and I experienced this same thing when we were first married. The house we were renting burned and we lost everything, no renters insurance, no place to stay. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers.
4 PAS915 // Aug 15, 2009 at 8:02 am
I, too, didn’t have renters insurance until my home was robbed. Then I looked into it and found how inexpensive it really is. Just a reminder to all renters to get it. You may be surprised how affordable it is. I sure wish I would have had it when I was ripped off.
5 Marty // Aug 15, 2009 at 10:18 am
I lost about 3/4 of everything I owned when a fire destroyed my apt. back in ‘99. I did not have insurance at the time because I was unemployed. If not for the generosity of others I would have been in bad shape. I got a lot of cash and gift cards which were the best because I could go out and get what I needed. You might consider gift cards from the grocery store too. I also got slightly used furniture from kind folks. And Red Cross gave me a bed.
I’ll check back to see if a list of needed items appears.
6 Trix // Aug 15, 2009 at 10:56 am
Yeah, ditto that SPG. Should post the list on both blogs. I spend a lot of my ‘play time’ in Greenwood/Phinney so I check this blog pretty often but MyBallard.com does get a ton more traffic.
7 Jeremiah Jester (Victims Neighbor) // Aug 15, 2009 at 11:41 pm
We just found this post. Thanks for all the feedback. Christie and I are still collecting donations for the family. We can also help you get in touch with the family if you rather donate to them directly. The family has not given us a list of items but i think gift cards or personal checks would be a good start since they don’t have a permanent residents yet. Please email me at jeremiahjester@gmail.com for more information. Thank you for the suggestion, we will also post this information on the myballard site.
Many thanks!
Jeremiah & Christie
8 Christie // Aug 16, 2009 at 12:38 am
SPG,
Fred Meyer gift cards are perfect! They need clothes, tolitries, food, furniture, and so much more! Fred Meyer has all of these things and would be a great donation. With the school year starting they will also need school supplies. For information on how to get the donations to the family you can e-mail me at christielucarelli@yahoo.com or jeremiahjester@gmail.com. Thank you!
9 eg // Aug 16, 2009 at 2:49 am
What about the man who was burned? Shouldn’t there be a collection for his expensive medical bills? Skin grafts cost way more than furniture and household belongings!
10 Silver // Aug 16, 2009 at 9:03 am
It looks like one can purchase Ikea gift cards by calling 1-800-434-4532.
Does anyone know if Ikea gift cards are also available at local grocery stores? (Silly question, I know, but they do seem to have a lot of different gift cards on their kiosks…)
11 Christie (Neighbor of Sal and Family) // Aug 18, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Silver-
I didn’t even think of Ikea. What a great idea!
Christie
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