| THANK YOU FOR THE ENORMOUS GENEROSITY
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It all started on June 2 when I was woken by my two yellow labs.
They were jumping off and on our bed and pacing back and fourth in our bedroom.
It was 2 a.m. I thought they really needed to go outside to the bathroom,
but when I sat up in bed it was then I realized something was wrong.
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When I glanced out our bedroom window in front of the house there was
nothing but orange glare. I ran to the dining room and the orange glare was
even brighter. I then opened the sliding door to the deck, looked out and
saw the back door to the garage. Nothing but flames were shooting out. When
the sliding door was open, both dogs ran out onto the deck and froze. I ran
in and yelled to my husband. I'm not sure what I yelled, but he said it was
one of those bloodcurdling screams. I yelled at him to get the dogs back
in to the house while I called 911.
We then awoke our son and were running out of the house. I ran my son and dogs across the street to the neighbors. Once I had them safe, I ran back to the house. My husband and I stood in the front yard embracing each other, shaking and crying and saying "come on Fire department ... hurry up, please hurry up" for what seemed like forever (actually only about 10 minutes).
While we were standing there shaking uncontrollably, neighbors began
coming out to comfort us. Some ran and brought us some clothes and blankets.
Someone brought us a couple of lawn chairs.
It was three and one-half hours before the fire could be put out. By this time, it had shot across the roof and gone through a majority of the house.
From the time we ran to the neighbors until now, the generosity of people has been enormous. I have never seen so much generosity from people. Neighbors were offering us a place to sleep. The one neighbor and her sister had just come back from vacation a few days earlier. Her sister, who I had never met before, helped us tremendously.
We had stayed at my husband's parents house. They happened to be out of town on vacation. My sister-in-laws came from downstate and North Dakota and basically took care of us for about the first week. The first couple of weeks were a blur.
My sister-in-laws did the cooking and cleaning and took care of my son. They helped us go through the house and try to save what little was left.
If it wasn't for them and the caring generosity from people, I'm not sure how we would have made it.
The neighbors across from us used their home for a drop-off point for clothes and miscellaneous items. Co-workers had a can set up for donations. Numerous co-workers brought in clothes and miscellaneous items to work. A mother of my son's friend called and told me her sons had put some money together for my son to buy an outfit. Another friend of his brought a coffee can to school for donations. Neighbors baked cookies for us. Another neighbor came to the house and watered and fed the pigs every day.
People we don't know were setting up boxes in their departments to drop off clothes. Co-workers made up a three-ring binder filled with recipes that I had given them or they gave me in the past. The generosity continued and seemed like it continued forever.
We will never be able to thank people enough for everything they have done for us. It really has opened our eyes to how caring people really are. It was really hard to take the generosity. We cried more than once.
It's sad to say that it took this tragedy for us to realize how caring our community really is. Thank you to everyone who has helped us. We will never forget you.
Sincerely,
Bill, Dawn (Rehab Unit) and Jay Rosa