Help Skye and her cats after apartment fire

I'm trying to help my friend out with some insane costs associated with a fire that happened in her apartment. Please see her message and help/share if you can! See the details from her here:

Hi this is Skye who you maybe used to know as Mei-Lu.

I just moved to Seattle and have been so focused in transitioning to new health insurance and in some cases reapplying for benefits that I hadn't had the opportunity to do more than think about getting renters insurance... So of course the cats set the apartment on fire.

The apartment's stove top is touch activated but turning on the stove is a two step process - one button selects the burner, the other button sets the temperature. The cats have managed to press one of the buttons, but never both so while it was annoying, and I was generally paranoid about never putting anything on the stove top, it wasn't something I was super worried about. I was in the middle of chore day - I'd had the month's groceries delivered and was doing laundry and was completely out of surface to put the basket of clean laundry on top of. Putting it on the floor just means the cats drag laundry out and I have to clean it all over again. I put the basket on top of the stove and pushed it all the way back so the cats wouldn't overturn it and ran downstairs for a quick lunch.

While I was eating, the alarm went off. When it became clear it wasn't a drill, I knew it was my unit. I knew exactly what had happened. The cats had finally managed to activate both buttons and set the basket on fire. The fire and water remediation people I spoke to said it was incredibly common for fires to be set by touch sensitive stove tops and cats. Watching people sitting outside with their pet carriers, I had to shove my worry down to not give in to fear of what my cats were experiencing. The last thing I wanted to do was envision all the scenarios. I did walk around the building to look at my window and there wasn't any smoke, and when I asked the fire department personnel, they said that when they got on site the fire had been suppressed by the sprinklers and the issue they were currently dealing with was that the unit was flooded.

It was still a stressful few hours not knowing what happened to the cat(s). I called the fire department to see if they had evacuated the cats and if so where they had taken them but no one was able to give me an answer. The property manager on site kindly arranged a hotel for the night and took me up to the unit to pack what I needed. What met my eyes was a disaster zone. Puddles of black oily water were all over the floor and everything was drenched. One of the water remediation people told me he found my cat, and I opened the closet to find Cixi sitting on top of my suitcase. I collected her and put her in her carrier and then went to my bed to see if any of the other cats were hiding under the covers. I found the rest of my cats, Xiao Fei, Edan & Kirin, all wrapped around each other in a kitten clump under my bedding. I was so relieved that they were safe that the rest of the evening passed in a blur of packing. I was smart enough to grab food, litter and a litterbox but of course some things got left behind.

The good news is, we're all safe. The cats may need a visit to the vet. They've been shaking their heads and scratching their ears and I suspect they got water in their ears. I got ear cleaner and will treat them and see if that resolve the issue but if they've gotten an infection of some kind, they'll all need treatment. I don't know if the vet will let me just take in one cat and give me medication for all four or will demand I bring all four in. Worst case scenario, it's all four and that's approximately $600 just for the vet visit. Let's say another $200-300 for medication.

The bad news is ... the water damage is extensive. All of my soft furniture had to be thrown out including my beds (I have two twin beds - one for day-time and one for sleeping) and all of my bedding. One or two things can be washed but the sheets all get stained by that oily black smoky water. Some of my clothes and shoes got stained as well. Almost all the cats' things have to be replaced including scratching posts, beds and cat furniture. My laptop was completely destroyed and it's possible that I'll have to replace my air purifier and printer as well. To add insult to injury, the water remediation crew took out some of the dry wall to prevent black mold and so everything in the house is covered with a layer of drywall dust. The furniture that is salvageable (book shelves, desk, dresser) all has to be treated with anti-microbial solution before I can use them and since I am extremely sensitive to both dust and mold, I'm going to have to pay a Task Rabbit to clean everything before I can use it.

A friend of mine very kindly lent me the money to cover food and housing until I can get into a new unit in the building. He's also covering the mover packing, moving and unpacking everything and a new bed and some bedding so I have somewhere to sleep when I move into the new apartment. Everything else will be covered with a tarp until I can get a Task Rabbit to clean it.

I've crunched the numbers and I estimate it will cost $13,000 to cover paying back my friend (who has lent me $8900 so far) and replacing enough stuff to make the space functional. I'm not looking to replace all my decorative items that were damaged or even the air purifier. But since my plan for getting off disability and becoming financially independent depends on writing, the laptop and printer are high priority. Also, I need a new laundry basket (I'm thinking a metal one on wheels this time so this isn't an issue again) and dish drying rack. Since I've spent this month's rent on food and I need to replace food that was spoiled in day that electricity was cut, I estimated $500 for groceries, and $300 for rent.

I know times are tough and it's actually killing me to ask my friends for help on this. I grew up in a family where I was shamed for needing anything, including my asthma medications, and it's hard for me to do this but given that I'm living below the poverty line on disability and have no credit cards, doing this on my own is a luxury I can't afford.

At a minimum, it's really important to me to pay my friend back the $8900 he fronted me. I don't want him to be punished for his kindness and generosity.

Here's a breakdown of replacement for some of the items:

$300 rent

$500 groceries

$1000 MacBook Air refurbished

$150 for a printer

$900 cats vet

$442 daybed mattress

$1000 bedding (including heated mattress pad, mattress protector, pillows & blankets), new bath mats, replacement clothes & shoes)

$360 cat beds, cat food bowl, cat water fountain, scratching posts

$200 laundry cart & dish drying rack

$200 Task Rabbit

That totals to over $13000. It’s probable that it will cost more than that to replace everything - I won’t know the full extent of the damage until I’ve moved and sorted through everything. For instance, I haven’t included the cost of replacing my lamps and those are just the things I’m pretty sure won’t be salvageable.