The Thomas Fire is Not Messing Around, Can You Help?

by | Dec 15, 2017 | Uncategorized | 10 comments

We are safe and sound, as is our home. It’s never even been smokey here, despite us being just a few miles away from multiple raging wildfires. The Thomas Fire has been burning for ten days now. It’s named for Thomas Aquinas College, and began near there. The campus was evacuated, and the students were housed in nearby homes. One family we know took in five young men from the school, then were themselves evacuated from their home as the fires spread to Ventura County.

The parents, Nathan and Jessica Haggard, found temporary housing for themselves and their eight kids. We took in the five TAC students, which included Nathan’s younger brother. That very night, the Haggard’s home burned to the ground.

This is their neighborhood, as houses were engulfed.

This is what their home looks like now.
And this is the Haggard family. They’ve got eight kids, who range in age from 2 to 15.

They are all safe and well and have a place to stay, but they’ve lost their home and everything in it. After MUCH badgering, Jessica was convinced to make a Christmas wish list on Amazon. I teared up a bit scrolling through it, because her kids are asking for the sweetest things, the most normal things, things my kids would want for Christmas. Plus church clothes, and white socks.

I know you guys. I know how awesome and generous you all are. And I know we can get them everything on this list. Even the laser tag guns you guys. I know it would mean so much to them.

Thank you!

Edited to add . . . YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! Everything was gone in four hours! If you’d like to still contribute, you can select the option to view already purchased gists on the list, and get them a gift card.

Or you can donate to the Go Fund Me campaign created for them.

Or to the Go Fund Me campaign created for Ashley Iverson, widow of Cory Iverson, the firefighter who was killed fighting this fire. She is expecting their second daughter.

p.s. If you’re doing the Nine Day Christmas Novena, it starts tomorrow!

10 Comments

  1. Becky

    So cool that you helped put this together. Praying for this beautiful family!

  2. Betka

    Kendra, thank you so much for doing this. These people are friends of my husband's from college and we would never have guessed that you would make it so easy for us to get help to them.
    But as I look at the Amazon list at 4:30 CST, I only see 8 things on it, and they are all for Jack, Pat, and Greg. I'm hoping that's because everything else was already bought and therefore taken off the list?

  3. Lisa Rickards

    Oh my goodness! I just logged in to see if I could help, and the list is EMPTY! Thank you, Kendra, for posting this. I love that we could all pull together (or try to) and get this done.

    • Kendra

      This is amazing! It was all gone in like four hours. I ♥️ this community.

  4. Amie

    I noticed that if you change the filter to “purchased” you can still see the entire list. This might let you purchase, say, an extra gift card that could be put towards whatever they needed.

  5. New homeschooler

    Everything is indeed gone – please ask them to update the list and put on anything else they might need!

  6. Adrienne

    Would they be willing to have a go fund me. I'm sure many more would like to help!

    • Kendra

      Yes! Some friends just started one for them today. I added the link to the bottom of the post.

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Hi! I’m Kendra.

For twenty years now, I’ve been using food, prayer, and conversation based around the liturgical calendar to share the lives of the saints and the beautiful truths and traditions of our Catholic faith. My own ten children, our friends and neighbors, and people just like you have been on this journey with me.

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