Barbara Mims House Fire Relief Fund

On the evening of November 24, 2021, 82-year-old Matriarch of her family, Barbara Mims, was doing what she had always done at her south side home for the past 54 years, prepare Thanksgiving dinner for her family. Barbara was preparing to smoke a turkey. Due to the late hour and weather condition, she relocated the smoker to the exterior basement stairwell of her home, added chips and lit the fire as she had always done on many, many occasion. She stayed and watched the fire until it settled down, before returning inside the home to continue some preparations for the turkey.

 

Sometime later, her granddaughter Faith, who was residing at the home with her, came into the kitchen to prepare a snack, noticed flames shooting up past the kitchen window. She screamed out to her grandmother who had walked into her bedroom at the front of the house, that the back of the house was on fire. She ran into the back bedroom and grabbed her infant son, ran towards the front door as she ushered her grandmother Barbara out the door and onto the sidewalk where they phoned 911 to report the fire.

 

The fire started when the smoker fire, which was thought to have been stable, flamed up and set fire to the underside of the back porch/sunporch structure. From there, as the fire grew, it burned through the wooden basement door giving it access to the basement laundry room and underside of kitchen. The fire climbed the porch walls where it burned through soffit and into the attic space and subsequently into the 2nd floor rear bedroom.

 

The rear third of the home is a loss. The back porch/sunroom, laundry room, kitchen, and second floor bedroom have been destroyed directly by the fire. All other areas of the home have been impacted by the extreme heat produced by the fire, resultant smoke and soot, and subsequent water damage related to Chicago Fire Department’s effort to control and extinguish the blaze. The home is currently uninhabitable and nearly everything contained within the home is lost; appliances, furniture, food, clothing, etc.

 

To make matters worse, the following Monday, after being able to access her files and paperwork, Barbara has learned that she has no insurance to cover the damages as her home insurance had lapsed years before. Barbara’s family has stepped up to provide her shelter and begin the process of accessing the damage and cost of repairs, however, there will be a large gap between that which the family can provide and expected cost of repairs, which are expected to be in the area of $80,000-$100,000.

 

“GoFundMe" Community, we need your help!! Please help this Matriarch return to her home and continue to lead her family. Please help this home to be returned to good condition and good repair for its neighbors and the community. Please consider making a donation as they work to recover from this unexpected and difficult situation. Any funds collected over above what is required to put Barbara back in good standards shall be paid forward to the next needy victim of a house fire.