Our house was badly damaged in a fire, and we are temporarily homeless.  

My brother (Patrick Brown) and I live in a duplex house.  He lives alone on one side.  My wife (Jade Brown) and I live together on the other side.  My Brother is losing his eyesight and was not able to know when his stove was on or off.  He accidentally left it on and cause a kitchen fire.  The volunteer fire department was able to save part of the house but both sides of it have been condemned. 

Other than some food in our refrigerator, my wife and I did not lose a lot of our personal stuff.  We are looking for a mobile home to move into and are having trouble with financing.  $10,000 will be enough to pay the down payment and get a place to live.  Currently we are sleeping on air beds in the storage room of a business that we operate.   

My brother, Patrick Brown, has the more immediate need. He lost most of his furniture and all of his appliances. He needs a pod or other similar storage unit to place stuff he is able to recover from his side of the house. He also needs a camping trailer to live in for a few years until he is able to get a more substantial mobile home. It will take $10,000 for him to get what he needs, plus a little more later so he can get out of the camping trailer.  Currently he is sleeping on a little cot in the kitchen of our mother's house.

As can be seen from the photo gallery, the house was not a total loss.  They saved the outer structure, but the inside of his side is gutted.  The firemen knocked out all of the windows, ripped out part of the celling and the floor collapsed.  Even though nothing was burned on the other side the structural integrity of the whole house is compromised, and we cannot live there.    

Our grandfather built this house in the mid 1940's then a year later added an extension to make a general store and Cinclare gas station.  In the mid 40's the store was converted into separate apartment.  Patrick was living in the original part of the house.

All three of us are diabetic and in bad health.  Patrick is 61 years old and is rapidly going blind.  He has not been declared legally blind yet because he refuses to let his doctors declare it.  He sees disability as giving up.  I am 65 years old and have a degenerative lumbar disorder which causes sciatic nerve pain. My wife is 75 years old and is about as healthy as you could expect a diabetic of her age.  Living as we must live now is not good for us.    

We are the types of people who hate to ask for help.  We would rather be giving than receiving but are in a bind right now. If you help us, we will not be able to pay it back, but we plan to pay it forward when we get back on our feet.