09 August 2010

One Of Our Own


~*~*~



Thursday's HNT was an emotional one for me. One of our own, Boo (formerly Boo(duh)) - a fellow parent, blogger and HNT-er - a dear friend of mine years before I started blogging - shared some shattering news.

Her short, but poignant post read:


~*~

On Monday July 19, there was a fire at my ex's home. We lost Moo and D'oh. Deedles is my hero, because she got Ganigan, Beans, and herself out of the house. She did everything right. I'll tell the full story later. Right now, I have too much to do and think about.

I lost my babies.

~*~

This is Boo's family. This will always be Boo's family.


However two of these children are no longer physically with the family.

Moo (age 9)


And D'oh (age 3)


Boo shared with me that, although they have received an outpouring of support and donations, as I'm sure you can imagine, their needs are many. Donations received to date have been split between Boo (the primary residence of the children) and her ex (where the fire took place).

Boo is not currently working and is not sure when she'll be emotionally ready to return to work. In addition to the overwhelming emotional tragedy of this loss, the financial impact is a very real concern every day.

I have set up a PayPal account in Boo's name for donations for her children. If you have a PayPal account - or would like to donate using a credit or debit card - just click on the button below. 100% of what you give goes directly to Boo. I realize these are difficult economic times for many of us. I ask that you give what you can - no donation is too small - to ease one stressor from this family's list of many.
PayPal Button Removed

If you are not comfortable with a cash donation, but would still like to help out in some other way, please email me at dana.luann@gmail.com and we will work out the logistics of your donation.

If you have a blog and would like to link to this post, I encourage you to do so.

If there is one thing I know, it's that the blogging community has amazing strength during times like these. Let's remind Boo that although she is not yet in a place where she is ready to talk about this in a public forum, we stand strong - holding her up - during this unimaginable time in her life.

~*~*~

47 comments:

Schmoop said...

I'm working on posting something for Tuesady that will direct people to this page and the one Clay did. Here's to Boo and her kids.

J said...

An account can be set up at a nationwide bank for the family. People can deposit donations directly into the bank. It would make it easier on all the bloggers to donate to one account. My friends set up a similar account for us when our house burned down. Some people may feel more secure depositing money at a bank than paypal.

Aunt Becky said...

My heart broke. Oh, just, oh. I hoped from the initial post that you were talking about cats.

My heart.

I will do my best to help.

Dana said...

Matt-Man, Thanks Matt!

J, do you have any information on how to make that happen? I considered that but then thought the logistics (I am no where near Boo right now and asking her to set up an account seemed unreasonable) would be burdensome, not to mention it would require people make a trip to the bank. But I'm open to the idea if it makes sense.

PayPal is certainly not the only option either which is why I included my email address. I want folks to be comfortable with their donations - feeling confident they'll be used for the purpose I've stated. I understand apprehension.

Anonymous said...

So much love and many prayers going to Boo and her family.

peace...

J said...

I'm not saying I'm apprehensive but I know there are people in the world that have no faith. I called Capital One and she said the account would have to go in your name but you can set your friend up as an authorized signer. You can even have the funds wire transferred to an account she has in her name. If you do go to set up a bank account make sure you tell them that it is going to be for donations.

J said...

Jaimey at http://jaimeystarkeybuquet.blogspot.com/ has posted on her blog as well. She knows the family personally so maybe she can help set an account up.

Mike said...

I didn't comment. I just went right to email. You'd think I had ADD or something.

Dana said...

Aunt Becky, thank you!

theybelongtous, love and prayers are critical! Thank you!

J, there are actually many of us who know Boo and her family personally and we have been working together to make a difference for them through blog post, tweets and facebook. [CLAY], [JAIMEY] and I have been in touch with Boo directly - we are sharing information and attempting to orchestrate this in the most efficient manner possible.

I'm not sure if my post sounded like a chain letter or possibly came across as "I read this post about a blogger now send me money," but nothing could be further from the truth.

Dana said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dana said...

J, there are actually many of us who know Boo and her family personally and we have been working together to make a difference for them through blog post, tweets and facebook. [CLAY], [JAIMEY] and I have been in touch with Boo directly - we are sharing information and attempting to orchestrate this in the most efficient manner possible.

I'm not sure if my post sounded like a chain letter or possibly came across as "I read this post about a blogger now send me money," but nothing could be further from the truth.

Dana said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I just sent a donation via paypal.

I hope it helps. I am so very heavy with grief for this family. There really are no words.

J said...

Oye put my foot in my mouth. Did not mean to sound ugly. Obviously my brain is still on vacation, hopefully it comes back soon.

Jay said...

I can't imagine going through something as terrible as that. It's just horrible.

Hubman said...

Veronica is writing about this tomorrow and linking to you, I'm mentioning both of your posts on my blog, hopefully that will send a little extra donations Boo's way...

katherine. said...

I am simply unable to find the words to convey my heartfelt sadness.

Dana...thank you for setting up a way for people to help.

MinorityReport said...

Thank you for posting the PayPal information.

I just linked this page to mine. Hopefully a few more will see it.

said...

Saw this via Hubman. I sent out a tweet to my followers.

Will send prayers too.

Unknown said...

Oh my heart just breaks....I will pass this on to my readers...
Sending many prayers~

Dianne said...

as I commented to Matt-Man, I inhaled deeply when I saw the photos of those sweet babies and I have not exhaled yet

I donated what I could
and I put links to this post on both my blogs

thanks Dana for organizing this

I wish there were better words ...

mo said...

Thanks so much for this Dana. I've been bawling my eyes out over this on a nightly basis as I snuggle my littlest one. I'm still having a hard time confronting that it's really true, that it really happened.

I'm passing around a link to your blog so people can donate and I'll just send pp to her directly.

Thanks again.
Mo

Amy J said...

I so wish I had even just a little bit of extra money to send. My heart is aching for all of those involved. All I have to offer is my prayers for everyone. I wish I had more, but I don't. Please know that if I had it, I would send it in a heartbeat!

May God wrap you all in his arms and comfort you.

Tracie Nall said...

I can't donate much, but I sent a bit and I am praying hard for Boo and the whole family.

Cheryl R. said...

I'm posting on my own blog, will be sending a donation, and of course my thoughts and prayers. What an unimaginable and tragic event. I'm just so sorry for Boo's loss, and for what her family must be going through. There is NOTHING I can say that could make it better, b/c I can't think of anything that would suck worse than losing a child.

Thank you for letting us know, and for not being afraid to ask your readers to help.

The Bipolar Diva said...

That's is so unbelievable horrible. As soon as we collect from our client we will make a donation.

Teri

Anonymous said...

goddamn.

I'm in tomorrow.

Sucks.

Ron said...

Hi Dana,

Just stopped over from Nitebyrds blog. Please know that I'm sharing much love and prayers right now.

((( Boo )))

X

Monica Corwin said...

I can't even think about how horrible this is for her. She has my prayers, support, and donation!

Angela @ Reading Angels said...

My heart is breaking and tears are streaming. I can't imagine the grief she is experiecing, I've sent a tweet to my followers with a link here and will be praying for strength for this poor woman and her family! Going to donate now.

The Queen said...

Royals are linking up and tweeting this..Just no words...

Herrad said...

Hi
Thinking of you all.
Love
Herrad

Chapter Two said...

I'm crying, I don't cry. You just said my worst fear ever..... man.

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

I am so very sorry to hear about this.

Like BFD said, this happens to be one of my worst fears to outlive my children. But to out live them by a tragic death is by far unimaginable.

My prayers are with her and her family.

Doc said...

Oh this is just awful. Im not caught up to date on what I missed while I was gone... but my heart just broke when I read this.

Anonymous said...

thoughts and prayers

Gucci Mama said...

Came over from Sage's place. My heart just breaks for this family. I will give what I can and send my people over here to do the same.

Linda said...

Came over from Dianne's and going over to PayPal now. My thoughts and prayers go to your friend Boo and the rest of her family at this sad and tragic time.

Ms Scarlett said...

I will link to this in my next post.

What awful news... my heart goes out to Boo and her family. They are in my thoughts.

Vixen said...

*heartbreaking* Devastatingly so....

I plan on linking on Friday.

Anonymous said...

Linking and just donated.

So very tragic. As a mother, I cannot imagine.

Jobthingy said...

i truly cannot afford much, but in the every peeny counts frame of mind i have i have just sent a small paypal donation.

also if you could email me the code for the button i will gladly post it as well as add it to my side bar.

~Isobel~DingoDoll said...

Thank God for Deedles getting her siblings out... that is a huge blessing that does not diminish the heartbreaking tragedy of the loss of Moo and D'oh. May God be with you and bless your family while helping you work through this terrible time. I am so sorry.. Peace be with you, and with all of your children. <3<3

The Urban Cowboy said...

My heart sunk as I read this. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family. I am linking to this page in my sidebar.

I came over via Vixen.

This is such a tragic loss, my heart hurts.

Ange said...

I stumbled onto your blog today by no accident. My heart breaks for this family, as I could never even imagine the pain she is going through.

My children each donated their allowance from last week, totaling $15. I know it is not much, but I hope it helps.

Ange

Ange said...

(I am not sure if my comment went through already, so please forgive me if this is a duplicate)

I stumbled on your blog by no accident today. My heart breaks for your friend.

My children donated their allowance from last week, which totals $15. I know it is not much, but I hope it helps.

Ange

GYPSYWOMAN said...

much love and many caring thoughts to all - gypsy