Toby and Anna's Fire recovery fund

Toby and Anna’s garage, which housed his woodworking shop, was struck by lightning and burned to the ground on Thursday, July 27th. The fire caused an enormous financial and emotional loss.

The garage housed all the tools, machinery, and equipment that Toby relies on every day in his profession as a builder. Additionally, Toby’s workshop was a place that brought him and his family a lot of joy. Toby and his adult children spent many hours building and creating things together.

Toby learned at an early age to leave spaces better than he had found them and his aim for life is, "to leave the world a better place than we found it" as he puts it. He collected antique fine woodworking tools and restored them. These were all lost to the fire.

He has worked as a carpenter for most of his life but is truly an artist and spent the majority of his free time in his workshop creating beautiful woodworking projects such as building cabinets, tables, and bowls, among other things. These projects were all stored in the garage and are gone.

Unfortunately, tools and building supplies are not covered in Toby’s business insurance policy and they were in the process of applying for a new homeowners insurance policy. Therefore there will be no insurance money to recover from this huge and devastating loss to Toby’s business and livelihood. The loss is compounded by the loss of materials and wood for projects present and future. As well as the loss of this special space which brought so much joy to Toby and his family.

They have a tremendous amount of gratitude for the firemen and crew that were able to save the house and are so grateful for all the kindness and support that is coming from family, friends and colleagues. These gifts are invaluable at this time.

We ask you to help out in any way you can with any amount you can spare. Any contribution would be much appreciated as they start to rebuild the garage and purchase new tools so Toby can continue to work in his industry. If you aren’t able to contribute, we completely understand. Please consider sharing this link to help them reach their fundraising goals. Thank you.