Generosity

Wow... I'm so amazed by the generosity of others!

My sister, Cherie, has had a really bad last couple of weeks. Her trailer caught on fire - electrical fire that started in the walls, last week (I think either Tue or Wed.) and then, this past weekend, her purse was stolen from her car while it was parked at our brother's home (a month prior, my sil, Jessica's (our brother's wife), purse was stolen in the same way; parked at her home and scattered in the bathroom at the park across the bayou)!!!

Anyways... just a few things that I know she's received from others in her community... even from people she doesn't even know!!!

Wait, first off... let's see who was affected by this fire... Cherie and 2 of her daughters (her oldest is with her dad for now in Florida) and our mom. It was actually the room our mom stays in that caught fire. Thankfully, they were all awake (it happened approx. around 9:00pm) and got out without any harm coming to them personally. Everything my mom owns was in that room. It was really the only room that was so badly damaged but the rest of the trailer got smoke damage. And Cherie said that everyone she's talked to has said its pretty much impossible to get rid of that smoke smell... no matter how many times you wash the clothes. I was like, that sucks, because her girls had such cute dresses in there! Precious dresses, really!

Also, while the trailer caught fire, they were also experiencing flooding from tons of rain that had fell over the past 24 hrs! Jessica has pictures of the aftermath... kind of hard to see since it was nighttime but... you get the idea... and you can see the water... there's pictures of my brother with the bottoms of his shorts wet.

Cherie has 2 jobs... she is a beautician in Mathews and also works at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in the same area, at the jewelry counter. Her girls are 3 & 5 yrs old (her oldest is almost 11 yrs old - but, like I mentioned earlier, she's been with her father since the school year began). Olivia's in kindergarten and our mom watches Sophia while Cherie works. Cherie & her husband have been estranged for the past 5 yrs. They aren't divorced but haven't lived together in those 5 yrs. He doesn't send any child support... never has. Also, they married each other twice.

Anyways...

They've been staying with our sister's, Angele, house in Thibodaux.

She received a 'credit card' from The Red Cross to get whatever they need; not gonna say how much, but, its generous :)
A manager at Wal-Mart is allowing her and the girls to stay at a house he owns rent-free for a year!!! Isn't that awesome??? Its like an 80-yr. old house... but, how nice is that??? Plus, he's done stuff to fix it up.
She received a call to open the beauty shop; she gets there and there's a trailer load of furniture!!! Amazing, huh?
Her friend, Angie, has bought Olivia new school clothes... she's giving Cherie a set of bunkbeds and some other furniture as well as clothes!
A near-by thrift store told her that she & mom can go get whatever they need out of there.
Wal-Mart has raised money for her! They're also applying for some sort of hardship deal to see what else they can give her!
Bonnie, another friend, has a list of numbers to call for stuff like that and has been helping as well!
People have been coming out of the woodworks, giving her money! One lady gave her a check for $50 and this guy, in Afghanstan (sp?) sent her $200 via wire!!!
I know there's probably things I'm failing to mention... I'll return and edit if I remember more or mom or Cherie tell me more.


I really just can't get over all awesome everyone is in a family's time of need! I'm floored. It really helps restore your faith in humanity!

It makes me happy for her though because Cherie is a very giving person. And now its coming back to her. She deserves it :D