Help Arno & Nikki - Palisades Wildfire destroyed their home

Hello, my name is Astrid.

My brother Arno and my sister-in law Nikki and their family lost their home and everything inside to the flames of the Palisades Fire on the morning of January 8th, 2025.

After fighting all night on the roof of their home with a water hose, fighting off the flames that were engulfing the houses around him, the water supply depleted and there was nothing left to fight with…

No one got harmed and everyone in their family—my brother, his wife, their 3-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son, his father-in-law who lives with them and is being lovingly cared for, and family dog Obi—are safe.

They are in shock.

They will never get the memorabilia collected over their lifetime back; they will never be able to replace everything they have lost.

After searching for three years to find the right home that could accommodate her aging parents, Nikki and Arno put their life savings and more into renovating what neighbors called the worst house on the block. For two years, Arno renovated the home with his bare hands as they could not afford a contractor after spending all they had on the down payment. As a result of the writer’s strike, they had to economize even more and take on debt just to survive.

Nikki has been out of work since the writer’s strike, and she has devoted the last 5 years (since 2019) to caring for her sick parents—first her mom, who passed on August 10, 2024, after battling cancer, then her dad, who is in the end stage of dementia. Financially, life has been hard for a while, and this devastating disaster has left them with nothing.

Please help if you can and take a small part of the burden off their shoulders and donate to help with relocation costs and replacement of at least the essentials they need. They have lost it all—clothing, shoes, bedding, toys, everything is gone. Hopefully, we can help them find a little bit of comfort in this devastating situation.

Please share this with as many people as you can; they are in desperate need.

Thank you!

yesterday after the water ran out:

Today

now that the smoke has disappeared…