Support for family's loss due to house fire

Nina is a single mum, with three kids, living near the Causeway Coast. She is recently divorced and works in a care home. She is on minimum wage, and receives Universal Credit. Even with this, it’s tough to make ends meet.

Two of her kids are in the early years of grammar school and they are doing well.

Nina struggles. On July 6th, Nina’s house insurance expired. Faced with a substantial cost increase, she decided to defer, & search the market. With other challenges in her life, she didn’t do this immediately.

Sadly, on July 16th, the house was badly damaged in a fire. Her daughter had left a lighted candle close to her hamsters cage in her bedroom. Whether the hamster kicked up some sawdust is still an open question, but this happened when she had gone out for a short while with her kids. 

Within an hour, a neighbour phoned to say there was smoke from her upstairs, & that the Fire Service had been alerted. Distraught, the family arrived home to find firefighters dealing with a blaze. The roof had caught fire. 

Suffice to say, the fire & water damage was substantial, & the house is uninhabitable, & in a bad state of repair. The previous insurers don’t want to know, even though she had been with them for several years.

Her two girls are devastated. Their world was in their bedroom. Now Nina has to find funds for a new roof, internal floors & ceilings, & a complete internal refurb. The smell of smoke has seeped everywhere.

Neighbours have been very kind in reaching out, & some are skilled tradesmen, which is great. Some practical help has already been offered. 

But she’s starting from scratch. She has to develop a plan for the extensive remedial work, with no idea even how to begin.

The total costs will be significant. She will receive some help from family and friends but the amount needed to repair the damage will be well beyond her means. 

This Go Fund Me page, has been set up to try to raise some money towards the repairs. Any contributions would be very greatly appreciated and please do share with others. It is certainly not easy to ask for help but I think anyone in similar circumstances with a young family would feel like they have no other choice.

Any assistance - financial, skilled, practical or professional would benefit Nina & her family immensely, & will be greatly appreciated.

She is currently moving around friends & family, while seeking emergency accommodation through the Housing Executive.

Nina would like to thank Mervyn, her family, friends and neighbors who have all been extremely kind, helpful and supportive during this difficult time.