Family starts Gofundme to save Christmas

Dec. 9—In the early morning hours of Wednesday, Angela and Christopher Farmer awoke to find that their home, where seven of their nine children live with them, was ablaze.

Thankfully, everyone was able to make it outside completely unscathed, but the same could not be said for all their possessions—including their wedding rings.

Believed to be started by a simple fault in the electrical wiring, the fire consumed the entire home leaving only blackened wood and ash. The fire began around 7:45 AM, and Alizea Hall said the Burnside and Ferguson fire departments arrived quickly — about 20 minutes after they were called — and battled the fire until around noon. But by then it was too late. The pajamas the family was wearing were all that remained of the lives they had built.

Hall, 19, is the second-oldest sibling in the family. She moved out of the family house to live her new husband about a year ago and was fortunately not in the home when the blaze began.

"My mom had started paying rent on the house, and she just got it completely paid off last week," said Hall. "Nothing in the home could be salvaged."

While what matters is that everyone in the family is safe and sound, with Christmas just around the corner, it feels like what for many is the best part of the year has now gone up in smoke. Already having gotten their Christmas shopping out of the way, the Farmers' Christmas gifts are now gone.

To have something for Christmas, Hall and her family started a Gofundme so that her family and all her siblings will be able to have a Merry Christmas.

The Gofundme has already raised $750, but the goal for the fund is $10,000.

The fire just occurred on Wednesday, and the family feels numb, not yet able to grasp the pain of the situation, says Hall.

"As of right now, everybody's feeling the initial shock of it all," she said.

While the future looks bleak, many in the community have already stepped in to ensure the family has somewhere to stay.

"There has been a church that has so kindly paid for them a hotel room for the next couple of nights," said Hall. "We did not expect it, that's for sure."

Hall's boss at the pharmacy she works at contacted her church in Stanford which is how they were able to secure funds for the family so quickly.

"They're just trying to keep themselves distracted," said Hall on how her younger siblings were managing the situation.

"They lost all their electronics in the fire, so they really don't have anything to keep themselves occupied, so they're just kind of bickering back and forth with each other," she said with a laugh.

The family hopes to raise enough money as they don't have any savings to rely on. Christopher is a part-time mechanic, and Angela is a homemaker, so they had used most of their savings in order to by presents for the kids for Christmas.

"A lot of people are already donating clothes... which is obviously amazing, but we're trying to get materials and people to help rebuild," said Hall. "It's almost two acres of property, so there's definitely room to build... but they're just in need of materials and hands-on people and furniture."

Hall praised the bravery of the two fire departments that responded and also remarked how helpful the Sheriff department had been to her family.

"One of the sheriffs here locally, he saw where my dad and brother were walking around with no shoes on in the rain, and he went and paid out-of-pocket himself to buy them shoes," said Hall.

Money can be donated to the Farmer family at: https://gofund.me/ad498725.