Fire Leaves Sweet Family Homeless

Suicide

Mold mildew

Foundation

Rats

Rats rats

Now a house fire

My name is Kelly and my sister-in-law, Valerie, and her 4 children need your help. I honestly don’t know how much more this little family can handle. Last night, their house caught on fire.

Thankfully, they got out alive but due to some issues with previous damage the house was not insured. The lawyers were handling some settlement issues but hadn’t gotten it resolved yet.

Here’s some of their back story to help you understand how this sweet family got to this place and why they need some help.

Valerie has been trying to keep a roof over her children’s head since her husband committed suicide 8 years ago. At the time of his death, her children were 5, 8, 10 and 12.

For years, they have struggled to make ends meet but things were starting to normalize when they realized they had a slow shower leak. There was a significant amount of mold and mildew which caused her oldest child to be hospitalized.

The mold was extensive and substantial renovations had just been completed when they discovered they had major foundation problems and that rats had moved in to their attic! We are talking full on infestation and the rats chewed thru wires and plumbing and caused the newly renovated house to flood, ruining everything they’d just repaired.

During this time, one of the younger 2 girls was admitted to drug rehab multiple times. She was 13 when she entered rehab for the first time. Like her daddy, she suffers from addiction and mental health issues (bipolar/schizophrenia).

Valerie was able to repair the damage from the rats and get the bathrooms and kitchen repaired but due to shoddy work by the exterminator the rats got back in and ruined the new appliances, flooded the floors, again.

Within the last few weeks, they finally finished putting the house back together!! It was a loooong 4 years fixing the mold/mildew, foundation issues and the rat damage. Her daughter just came home from rehab and is doing great although she has developed a seizure disorder that is stress induced, called Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizure disorder. But overall, things were looking up.

Last night, it was snowing in Dallas so Valerie started a fire in their fire place. The flames got up in the attic and ravished the house. Valerie was able to get the kids and 2 dogs out of the house before the smoke took over. They are still missing 2 cats.

Each time this family suffers devastation, they are able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. They are resilient. They are hard working. But, this last blow may not be recoverable since they do not have insurance to help mitigate the costs. They currently are staying at the neighbor’s house but have no place to live. I understand that many families are struggling and honestly, Valerie is just thankful that she and her children got out alive. If there is anything you can do to help with immediate needs or fire restoration, please click the link. Any amount will help. If donating is not an option, please send prayers for strength, hope and understanding. We appreciate you so very much!