Mom and Twins lost everything in fire
Donation protected
We are reaching out to our community for help rebuilding the lives of my cousin Christine and her little girls, who lost literally everything but their lives in the Oregon wildfires. She has shared a bit of her story below:
On Tuesday September 8, the Almeda fire ripped through a series of little towns in southern Oregon, starting in the north end of Ashland where it burnt our entire life to the ground. It happened so fast. We lost absolutely everything. The winds were so strong and the blaze so huge and out of control, we couldn't get into the house to save anything, and have nothing left of our lives except the clothes on our backs.
I'm a single mom of twin daughters who turned 3 the day before this happened. They had so many beautiful new presents that are just gone. They keep asking for things like their kaliedoscope and their tricycle, and especially crying for their "bucka buckas" (blankets) and asking to go home.
I know we are lucky to be alive and I have to be strong for my girls, but I am fighting the feeling that we have been completely defeated. Everything I worked for and took pride in is gone. We not only lost our entire home, all our clothing and furniture, personal possessions and life memories, I also lost my recording studio and all my pianos and instruments, all my original art and almost two decades of my life's work that is so much a part of my identity and self worth that I am now struggling with the feeling that my entire life has been for nothing. An entire lifetime of hard work, inspiration and dreams taken away in just a few minutes.
I also lost both of the home businesses I had been building. I am at a complete loss what to do, and am just trying to get through each day right now.
We need help. If you can give it, please do. We need literally everything. I am so grateful for any amount of help, no matter how small. Come on, Universe, this mama isn't going down without a fight.
On Tuesday September 8, the Almeda fire ripped through a series of little towns in southern Oregon, starting in the north end of Ashland where it burnt our entire life to the ground. It happened so fast. We lost absolutely everything. The winds were so strong and the blaze so huge and out of control, we couldn't get into the house to save anything, and have nothing left of our lives except the clothes on our backs.
I'm a single mom of twin daughters who turned 3 the day before this happened. They had so many beautiful new presents that are just gone. They keep asking for things like their kaliedoscope and their tricycle, and especially crying for their "bucka buckas" (blankets) and asking to go home.
I know we are lucky to be alive and I have to be strong for my girls, but I am fighting the feeling that we have been completely defeated. Everything I worked for and took pride in is gone. We not only lost our entire home, all our clothing and furniture, personal possessions and life memories, I also lost my recording studio and all my pianos and instruments, all my original art and almost two decades of my life's work that is so much a part of my identity and self worth that I am now struggling with the feeling that my entire life has been for nothing. An entire lifetime of hard work, inspiration and dreams taken away in just a few minutes.
I also lost both of the home businesses I had been building. I am at a complete loss what to do, and am just trying to get through each day right now.
We need help. If you can give it, please do. We need literally everything. I am so grateful for any amount of help, no matter how small. Come on, Universe, this mama isn't going down without a fight.
Organizer and beneficiary
Lisa Assouad
Organizer
Ashland, OR
Christine Anderson
Beneficiary
