These Tragic Times....

I know that some of you are my "friend" on Facebook and Twitter, and such so you may have already seen this story posted, but I just also felt the need to post this here. My heart is very heavy. I am in such a deep funk. A family whom we dearly love here had everything burnt to the ground. See, this is {was} a storage warehouse that held the personal belongings of our local military and government civilians who are in transition - either moving to Stuttgart or away from Stuttgart. Yep, it burned to the ground this weekend. 106 families have now received the calls that all of their belongings perished in this fire. I was the first responder for my neighbor when she first received the call. I had to sub today but it was all I could do to get through the day. I, myself, am exhausted - mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually - so I can only imagine what these families are feeling. Our Stuttgart community is a very giving community, no matter the situation, but many of our families' lives have been rocked to the core and now we must all pick up and try to help. How do we do that? Where do we turn? We are in the process of organizing a community BBQ, along with bake sales, clothing drives, etc. to help raise money for these families. At least 3 new teachers at our school had their belongings destroyed in this devastation.

If you are the praying kind, would you please send up a quick lil prayer for these folks? They so desperately need comforting arms around them at this time.

I pasted the article in to this post for you all to see, and feel free to go HERE to see the rest of the articles regarding this fire and to see our other local news.

November 3, 2010

US military families lose everything in huge fire

Published: 2 Nov 10 17:01 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20101102-30901.html

Almost 100 US military and civilian families have lost most of their possessions in a warehouse fire outside Stuttgart, American officials told The Local on Tuesday.

The warehouse was the main storage facility for personal belongings being shipped to and from the area for Stuttgart-based families by a US-contracted moving company, the US military said.

“We’re going to do everything we can to help the families recuperate what they lost, but we fully understand folks will have lost sentimental and irreplaceable items,” said US Army Garrison Stuttgart commander Col. Carl D. Bird in a statement.

“This is not an easy situation to deal with, however, military families are resilient, and we have a great community to support them.”

The fire began on Saturday evening at the warehouse in Schwieberdingen and lasted almost three days, police spokesman Peter Widenhorn told The Local.

“They finally managed to get the coals put out today. It was huge,” he said, adding that more than 350 fire fighters, 55 rescue workers and 20 police officers were on the scene to get the blaze under control.

The cause of the fire in the Baden-Württemberg community some 10 kilometres from Stuttgart has yet to be determined, he said.

The military notified the affected families on Tuesday.

Lorie Warchol, the Family Readiness Coordinator for the Stuttgart Garrison, told The Local she was fielding calls from these people about what to do next.

“They are devastated. They’ve lost everything,” she said.

The fire destroyed 106 shipments for 97 Stuttgart families, according to transport company Andreas Christ Spedition and Möbeltransport GmbH.

The US military has set up an assistance centre and will hold two meetings in Stuttgart on Wednesday to help the victims file insurance claims and find temporary furnishings for their homes. Counsellors and religious guidance will also be available.

Kristen Allen (kristen.allen@thelocal.de)