In the summer of 2017 my husband and I, along with our two daughters, experienced a house fire in the middle of the night. Fortunately, we were all able to make it out of the house safely, but we lost so many of our personal possessions due to the damage.
The next day, we were really just in shock and trying to figure out what our next steps would be. A friend of ours saw the news that we posted on Facebook and reach out to Ellie’s Elves to see if they could help us. Joni Kanazawa reached out to us right away, as well as several other “Elves” and provided us with emotional support, household items, guidance from an elf who had been through a housefire herself, and rallied the local community to help us as well. It was unexpected and a huge part of us getting back on our feet.
That was a dark moment in time for us but there was so much beauty that came out of it. It was very heartwarming to have this support from such an amazing organization and our local community, family and friends. We never could have imagined how caring and supportive total strangers would be. Since that point in time, we have been volunteering with Ellie’s Elves ever since so that we could pay it forward and help shine the light for others.
Jessica Donaldson | October 18, 2023
