Help Mar & Craig Rebuild Their Lives After Fire Loss

Mar Vaquero is organizing this fundraiser.

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On October 3, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, we bought our first home together —a place where we could feel safe, work efficiently, and build a life together. We remember that day as one of the happiest in our lives. We moved in and shortly began a renovation to make it our own. Craig did many, many of the much-needed home repairs and built endless things for us and our home.

The evening of January 7th 2025, we received an emergency alert to "LEAVE NOW" and 10 minutes later we were driving away in our small car with a passport, a blanket, two pillows, and a sleeping bag, never thinking that we weren't coming back home. Our home burned to the ground between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning.

Dear family and friends – our hearts are broken, but your kindness and generosity over these past 48 hours have reminded us that we are not alone. We don’t know exactly what we need yet—because we have lost everything—but we know we need help to rebuild our lives.

We promise that we will rise from this, and when we do, we will pay your kindness forward. Thank you for being part of our journey to rebuild what we have lost.

With love and gratitude,

Mar & Craig

PS: The selfie photo below is from the afternoon we closed on our home in 2020. We are holding onto the hope that someday we’ll take another selfie—standing together in front of the home we will have rebuilt.