BIELANKO FAMILY FIRE EMERGENCY FUNDRAISER

As you all know,

I have been a fan of "The Girl Who"

for years.

Years and years and years.

Well, yesterday, they suffered a devastating loss

when their house burned down.

Turns out, they didn't have renters insurance either.

This means,

they need our help.

Mine, yours, everyone's.

The following was copied from

http://mamapundit.com/bielankofirefundraiser/

Goal: $10,000 

Tally so Far: $1150

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I know that many of y’all love Serge and Monica Bielanko, just as I do. They are truly lovely people, in addition to being two of the most talented bloggers in our online parenting community.

And we ARE a community, whether you’re a blogger yourself or a reader.

Serge, Monica, Violet and baby Henry

Yesterday, the Bielankos’ rural Pennsylvania home – a rental farmhouse into which they’ve poured time and love in recent months, since they made the brave leap to relocate from Utah – suffered a major house fire.

Serge had been working meticulously to refinish the floors in their new home, which they were SO excited to have found and to be able to afford.

While the cause of the blaze isn’t known yet, the fire appears to have started in or somewhere near Violet’s upstairs bedroom, where 2 year old Violet was playing alone at the time. Monica had the horrifying experience of having to rescue her baby girl from a room already engulfed in flames.

Thank God, no one was hurt. Serge, Monica, Violet and baby Henry – plus their two dogs, Max and Milo – all escaped, only to stand outside helplessly and see their beloved home burn as firefighters worked to save it.

While it will take days or more to determine the full extent of the loss of their belongings, we already know that the losses are extensive. Additionally, while they are able to stay with Serge’s mom for now, we know for certain that the family will have to relocate soon to a new rental home, and start completely over.  And unfortunately – and to their eternal regret – they were not adequately covered by renters’ insurance. Their landlord is hoping that at some point they may be able to get back into his house once all the fire damage is repaired, but for right now, that’s just not happening.

The Bielankos' Home (with Violet on Porch) Before the Fire

Serge and Monica are both self employed. Serge is a musician and stay at home dad, working on his first book. Monica works harder than just about anyone I know to support her family as a freelance writer. They get by, but their budget had zero wiggle room for something so catastrophic.

That’s where we come in, y’all.

Starting today, many of us in the blogging community are launching an emergency fundraising appeal for the Bielanko family. They need funds to find and rent a new place, and to replace everything they already know they lost.

Later, after we know more clearly what stuff might be helpful – adn after they have a place to put it – donations of things like furniture, toys or clothing might be useful. But for now, like every working family faced with a situation like this, these folks are going to need actual money to rebuild their lives.

I literally had to BEG Serge and Monica to let people help them; they would NEVER have asked for any help themselves. But they finally agreed after I told them I would do it anyway  But these are people who WILL pay it forward when the time comes, and I also know that if they end up with funds that are in excess of what they actually need to rebuild their life, they plan to donate it to their local Red Cross to help other families who suffer fire losses.

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Here’s our goal: let’s all work together to raise a total of $10,000 in an emergency fire fund for the Bielanko family.

My sister Betsy Allison Tant, whom many of you know as the Executive Director of Henry’s Fund, has agreed to serve as our neutral, third party “collector of funds,” and keeper of records for our Bielanko Family Fire Emergency Fundraiser.

Betsy will carefully tally and record all gifts that come in, and she will be the one to distribute the funds raised directly to Serge and Monica Bielanko.

Every day – multiple times throughout the day – I will be updating the running tally of how close we are to our $10,000 fundraising goal.  Our fundraiser will end when we hit that $10,000 mark.

HERE’S HOW TO DONATE TO THE BIELANKO FAMILY FIRE EMERGENCY FUNDRAISER

There are several ways you can give.

1 – You could make a monetary gift of any amount (even $5 helps!) via my sister Betsy’s PayPal account at email address: ejatant@gmail.com. Please indicate that your gift is for the Bielanko Family Fire Fund.  Betsy and I promise to be very careful stewards of every penny that anyone is kind enough to donate, and all funds will then be distributed directly to Serge and Monica. (Please be aware that this is not a tax deductible donation you will be making, but is instead a private gift to a specific family in need)

NOTE: IF YOU SEND YOUR GIFT VIA PAYPAL PER THE INSTRUCTIONS DIRECTLY ABOVE,  THE NAME ON THE ACCOUNT TO WHICH YOU WILL BE SENDING DOES INDEED READ  ”CLYDE TANT.”  YES! THAT’S THE RIGHT NAME AND THE RIGHT ACCOUNT !

2 – If you would rather send a check, that’s great too. Please make it out to Serge and Monica Bielanko,  and send it to this address: Bielanko  Family Fire Fund/4300 Fulton Dr./Knoxville, TN 37918. (Again, please be aware that this is not a tax deductible donation you will be making, but is instead a private gift to a specific family in need.)

3 – You could also send a gift certificate or card from either Target or Walmart (please use one of these two specific retailers because they are local to the Bielankos)  to be used toward groceries, gas or clothing/shoes for the children. Please send gift certificates by email to ejatant@gmail.com – indicating the gift is for the Bielanko Family Fire Fund/4300 Fulton Dr./Knoxville, TN 37918

If you are unable to make a monetary gift to help, you can still play an important role by sending a link to this fundraising page to others, or posting it on your Facebook page or blog to spread the word to others who may want to give.

THANKS Y’ALL!

LET”S DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR SOME GOOD FOLKS IN THEIR TIME OF NEED.

READY….SET….GO!!!!

lurve you, xoxo v.