People.

You know how some days people really piss you off?

Today's not one of those days. Today's the kind of day where you kinda shake your head in wonder at how AMAZING people can be.

After yesterday's fire a lot of things came to light.

1. My friends and co-workers are amazing.

2. My homeless friend had a lapse in her otherwise excellent judgement, which caused her home insurance policy to lapse. She has no insurance, and now no home.

3. My company is pretty darn amazing.

4. Bloggers are amazing.

Let's take these points in order, however difficult it may be to not skip over #1 to get to the glaringly stupid #2.

1. My friends and co-workers are amazing.

They are. In order to help out our now homeless office manager, we started collecting donations today. We began, just randomly and not in any sort of organized way, at 8 am. By 11 am we were able to give K--- $450. That's just out of pockets. By 4 pm we'd gathered almost $1000. Amazing.

And we have plans in place to gather more. We have several stores locally, and each store is putting together fundraisers and donation jars to try and pitch in.

On top of that? Our CEO is matching all cash donations made by staff, dollar-for-dollar. I work in a good place, with some amazingly generous people.

Which brings us to #2.

2. My otherwise very intelligent coworker K--- has absolutely no insurance.

She owned her unit, which they just re-mortgaged recently. Hopefully the Condo-corp is responsible for rebuilding the BUILDING part, and she will just have to replace contents out of her own pocket...but I'm not sure how it works when you OWN your condo. I have always rented, so it's never been a concern for me.

But what this means in real terms, is that she is not only homeless, but she has no possessions, and no funds with which to get any. She will be paying a mortgage on a home that no longer exists, and that she is unable to live in. This will make it incredibly difficult to pay rent in any other location she may need to live in the meantime.

This information is NOT public knowledge yet at the store, she let it slip to a couple of us...so we have not yet been able to share the information. Consider yourselves on the inside scoop...and sworn to secrecy until further notice. This will apply to point #3 also...as I'm going to tell you other stuff you shouldn't know.

3. My company is pretty darn amazing.

As I mentioned in #1, our CEO has agreed to match any cash donations made by staff to the K--- fund on a dollar-for-dollar basis. The last time we did any fundraising for someone, we raised over $10K on our own. This was a substantial help to the family in need (very serious and unfortunately terminal medical troubles). Particularly when doubled quietly in the background.

Additionally, and completely on the QT, our CEO called K--- to explain that we own a house somewhere in Sackville. And it is currently empty. While the house is unfurnished, and is nothing terribly fancy, it is empty. And that if she wants it, it is available to K--- and her husband at no charge for however long she needs it. Be it 3 weeks, or be it a year. This is NOT public knowledge, and as it stands now, only 3 people at work know about it. But it definitely gives me faith in the fact that I work for a good company.

4. Bloggers are amazing.

I received several e-mails today from local and semi-local blog-stalkers offering household goods and other assistance. You guys are amazing. And I'll definitely let you know what's what as soon as there's any information. I know that K--- will appreciate it, and I know that I already do.

There was a me eting of the condo-corp and the recently displaced this afternoon, but I'm not sure what came of it yet. One of the neighbours is going to let me know if there are any other people in need of help, and we're going to do something here in the complex. So if there's any other people in the same boat as K---, I'll be sure to let you know that too.

Thanks so much for your very generous offers of help--for a total stranger. That's one of the most wonderful things about living here--in this city, in this province, and in this country--the incredibly generous nature of people when other people are in need.

***
As a bit of background...that building had 12 units spread over 3 stories. Each was a 2 bedroom unit, all privately owned condominiums. Most of the units were inhabited by couples in their late 60s and early 70s. My friend K--- and her husband were by FAR the youngest couple in the building at 45(ish) years old.

K-- was devastated last night, not just by the loss of her home, but also by the thought that her cats had perished in the blaze. When the excavators knocked down the burning walls, someone claimed they saw pets scatter. Last night K--- was able to find one cat, but the other was missing. K--- thought she'd never see him again.

This morning the cat was found huddled inside the communal firepit in the commons area. He was scratched up and terrified, but he was checked out by the vet and is none the worse for wear. (The vet, God bless them, did the check-up and patch-up for free.) Unfortunately, 3 other cats and a dog DID perish in the fire. Only K---'s pets survived.

***

That's about it for tonight. I'm pooped, and I work tomorrow night, Friday night, and out Saturday night...it's a busy week. With me working Sunday, and hosting a baby-shower on Sunday night. I'm not sure when I'm going to have time to launder and bake, but I suppose that has to be done as well in there.

And everybody knows that tomorrow's Thirstday, so I won't even be able to stay up late and make cookies!

I've got work stuff to blab about tomorrow or Friday, but today just didn't seem like the time.

G'night folks :) Happy Thirstday!