OT: Collection for Lynn Kahiapo

I'm still trying to connect via phone with Lynn, but via text she confirmed that it would be okay if I arranged a collection here.  Their first priority is to find housing, I'm assuming they'll be looking south of the river since that's where they've lived the past few years - if you know of anything, please let me know.

For now, please start thinking about anything you have in your home that you are willing to part with to help her and her family start over. I believe they lost everything, so they'll need bedroom and living room furniture, all kitchen supplies, TV, etc. Just go through what you have and consider nothing too little. They will also need clothes, I'll get sizes later - I think Lynn is around a 16/18 and I'm pretty sure her daughter is in that range too.  She also has a teenage boy, a son-in-law and a grandson around 2 years old - so all baby items are needed as well. 

Please send me a PM to let me know if you have anything to offer Lynn and her family and then we can arrange a time/place for me to get the items and pass them along to Lynn. If you have large furniture items, we'll have to figure out how to get those to her as I only have a small SUV.

For those of you friends with Lynn on Facebook, she has information on her FB page about an account set up through her credit union for anyone able to make a financial contribution. As soon as I get more information I will let you know.

I will update this post when I get more specifics from Lynn on what they need, in particular clothing sizes. I just wanted to get word out about collecting things for her as soon as I could so people could starting sorting through things they might have.

Thank you in advance on behalf of Lynn and her family.

I just got off the phone with Lynn, she confirmed that their home was a total loss, in fact the house is being bull-dozed tomorrow (Thursday) morning. Unfortunately, they did not have renter's insurance, so she asked me to stress that they will need EVERYTHING to start over, in particular, household items will be their biggest need once they find a new home.

They are hoping to find something in Eagan again and because of their family structure they need something with 4 bedrooms under $1500. If you know of anything please let me know and I will forward the information on to them.

As for clothing, they have already been getting some, but could definitely use more. Here are the sizes:

Lynn & her daughter are both about an 18/20 on top and bottom
Maui (her son) is in a L-XL top and a 34x34 bottom
Brandon (her son-in-law) is in a M-L top and a 32x32 (could also do a 32x33 or 32x34) bottom
Micah (her grandson) is in 24 month

She also wondered if anyone had a list of household items that they would need to restart their home, she was over whelmed when they went to Target recently because she has no idea where to start - if you have such a list or can put one together please PM me and I can give you my email address.

I"m going through my house right now and I will check with my daycare provider and see if she has any clothes that she would be willing to part with-her son is just growing out of the 24 month stuff.  I have a daughter so I don't think her grandson would appreciate dresses and princess things. 

Also, I have a Chevy Tahoe so it's a larger size SUV and I am available most weekends to help out, I just need to know in advance so I can schedule a sitter for my 3 year old.

In addition, I have a crib that I have in storage or a Pack n Play if they need something now.  The crib however is just the crib and no mattress since my daughter is using it in her toddler bed.  But that will hopefully be changing soon (we are hoping to upgrade her to a twin size if we are getting a return this year on our taxes). 

Samantha,

Everything you suggested sounds fantastic, I will send you a PM with my contact information so we can discuss getting this from you. And having the truck availability might come in handy.

Thank you! Thank you!

OMG... no renter's insurance??    That is BAD NEWS.  I always had it when I was a renter, and I'm thankful I never needed to utilize it.  Geeze... if they'd had that, they could at LEAST try to look forward to replacing all the things it would cover with shiney NEW stuff, but man...

We'll scour our house for anything that might be of use to them, but I'm the anti-hoarder, I get rid of things probaby quicker than I ought to.  Give her my love next time you chat, Tracy...

Hey Tracy....

We got a Truck if needed.. Just let me know...  I will scour for 'stuff'  I know we have a non-digital TV we can part with for sure..

Hugs to Lynn and her family..!!

Dana,

Thanks for letting me know about the truck - that's something we might need when we have to start collecting the bigger furniture items that people might donate!  I'll let you know when we get that far.

Watch Craigslist for furniture, we've gotten some nice stuff for free...couches, tables, entertainment centers.  With Dana's truck, that would be nice for hauling. 

I've been looking on CL free stuff, but nothing looks like it's in that good of condition - if you see anything, please let me know.

I just thought of something!!!  I know my friend Theresa has two sets of furniture in her palor, I'll see if she'd like to get rid of the modern set. It's in wonderful shape!  The other is victorian and I know she wouldn't part with that.