Help the Smerdel family recover from house fire

Looking for donations to help us rebuild: food/meals, furniture, household items, clothing, dog supplies, etc. [Amazon wishlist of household items]

Read our story below:

Friends, family and kind-hearted strangers,

On the evening of April 26th, a house fire abruptly broke out in Dave and Laura's home in the attic. They were sitting in the living room watching tv when their black lab, Layla, started acting anxious while alerting them to the front end of the home. Layla likely saved both of their lives that evening.

While running out of the home, Laura grabbed the phone and dialed 911. Due to the remote location of their home, my family had to watch their home of nearly 25 years, where they had raised their son, where JJ and I got married, helplessly burn to the ground. Once the fire trucks arrived, they had each other, their car, and the clothes on their backs.

Disasters aren’t correlated to karma but if it was, the Smerdels would never be in this position. They are well known in their community and even given the current situation, they would give you the clothes off their backs even when they have nothing left to give. Dave Smerdel served in the Navy in the height of the Vietnam War. He risked his life for our country and is a Purple Heart recipient for his bravery in the Mekong Delta. Laura and Dave opened up Yesterday’s Pub in downtown Brazil and it remained a staple in the community for 13 years. If you know and have experienced kindness, you know the Smerdels.

To add to our struggle, we have a uniquely small family unit. JJ, Dave and Laura’s son, is an only child with no living grandparents and one half-aunt on both sides of the family. We have already seen unbelievable support from our friends and my side of the family but having such a small immediate family will make recovery difficult, especially with JJ and I being full-time Colorado residents.

This is a tragedy that you don't ever fully recover from emotionally. Luckily, we do have home insurance. However, the road to recovering any payment for their personal property is a long one. Our confidence in having the appropriate proof and documentation of their property loss is incredibly low. We are looking to raise $15,000 to help Dave and Laura during this ambiguous interim period to help us rebuild their life from scratch. Additionally, their property is about 1.5 hours from Indianapolis and there are not many rental options - once we secure a location, we will need to completely furnish the unit.

Kindly,

Jenny Smerdel

[[email redacted] or call/text [phone redacted]]