Don & Jody Ringle - Colorado Marshall Wildfire Victims

On December 30, 2021 our life will forever change. My husband was in Ft. Collins and I evacuated with just the clothes I was wearing that day. I froze, and could not think of "one" thing to grab! Now our life will always be divided as, "before" the fire and "after" the fire. We moved to Louisville 32 years ago. Louisville was a great place to raise our family. We lost everything we had collected over our 43 years of marriage. We have/had many wonderful memories of our family life in that home. Sentimental things I wish I had taken with me on the infamous day, is the 1 wedding picture (photographer ran off with the money), all of our family portraits & photos, my wedding ring, jewelry given to me on anniversaries, journals & scrapbooks, etc. These are the things that you can't replace. We have been so overwhelmed by the outpour of kindness shown to us wildfire victims by the community! We would very much appreciate donations as we try to rebuild our life again. ____________ This page is being organized as a part of a larger support effort for those impacted by the devastating Marshall Fire. Each family has set up their own Amazon Wishlist (linked here) with the specific items they need. You can order directly from their Wishlist, or send a digital gift card to be delivered directly to the family. Who is organizing these efforts? I am Meryl Suissa and I started Boulder Fire and Surrounding Areas Victims Distribution Page. The name is so long because I started this before we even knew the fire had the name the Marshall Fire. Over the past 25 days (at the time of writing this), we have helped 115 families. We as a group have raised over $10,000 in monetary donations, plus provided typical post-disaster relief by providing emergency funding, food and paying for shelter, we have filled as many wishlists as the 3500 of us can. But what has made us really unique is our ability to offer hope and provide human connection One member said- You are connecting people so an afghan blanket crocheted by a grandmother can be remade, reconnecting a family with a fragment of a christmas card plus we have organized and thrown many birthday parties complete with swag bags and balloon artists, we have replaced specific nostalgic mugs and provided a sense of community. I have vetted each one of these families using their address, the lost home address and forms of address verification. We have a very strict process.