Rebuild Lives: Aid for Opelika Fire Victims

Hey there - my name is Garrison Snelling. My family and I live in the Southside of Downtown Opelika.

On January 8th, we noticed a lot of smoke all around our house. We went to investigate and discovered that the home of Nelson, Mary Katherine, and Lily Marsh, Wyatt and Becky Dean, and Johnny and Hannah Whyte and Renae Roach was on fire.

This GoFundMe exists to help them all get back on their feet.

All of these people are young ambitious Opelikans. Nelson and Mary Katherine have just opened Piedmont on Piedmont, Hannah is an anchor of Side Track Coffee and Johnny an anchor of the O Grows Community Garden and Wyatt and Becky are in the process of opening a ramen shop on 10th street.

Starting over as a couple/family is never easy and knowing these people I highly doubt that this is good timing (understatement of the year).

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me directly either via GoFundMe or via fromopelika.com.

P.S. I will be regularly updating this page as I get more information about everyone's needs.

FAQ:

How you are (Garrison Snelling) related to the person(s) we're raising funds for?

Great question! I'm actually neighbors to all of these people (I live a few houses down from the house in question). I've also known the majority of these people for several years as a friend and comrade in our downtown.

How will these funds be spent?

These funds will be spent on any and all needs to help this group get back on there feet. So think furniture, clothing, pay for loss of work, etc.

How will you transfer these funds to the individuals?

The funds raised will be distributed by household among the affected residents. While there are eight (8) total occupants, the distribution will be calculated per person but disbursed to each head of household based on their family size. However, 3 occupants have actually opt-ed to not receive funds (The Marsh family) as they have have sufficient insurance.