A Way to Help A Fire Victim Hitting Close to Home

All right folks. Although Liv Annika continues to have a strong run in the Oakley Rider Search here is a family in real need.

Kristin works at General Atomics making the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (it was used for fire spotting during the fire). This is a story of a co-worker of my wife. I think I wrote about him in the early hours of this tragedy. He spent years building "Shangrila". He just built two houses on the property to rent to his newly married sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Recently he put the finishing touches on a playground for his children. This was a beautiful ranch in the "Western" town of Ramona. You did not know this when I told you the story, but you probably saw the pictures over and over again on the national news.

Remember that children cannot distinguish that pictures and videos are looped. Kristi's young children learned about their house burning down when it was looped over and over again on the blood sucking, tragedy-making, terrorist collaborating, un-American, I will sell out our troops for a buck media . . . I digress.

Here is a link to the William's story with Diane Sawyer (as she tries to redeem main stream media's Dionysus engorged soul). Christie's Story on ABCNEWS.com Please look at this video.

I've had many of my friends from around the world ask, how they can help. Well, what is the sense in having so many friends (and too many MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn pages to keep up with) if you can't call on them in true need. As I said earlier, Kristin and I provided help, but after seeing this story, I realized it was not nearly enough. The least I could do is implore my friends, colleagues, fellow Milts, Marines and associates to open their hearts and their wallets to support a close associate of my wife.

Right now the family is living in Arizona, with family - my next thought was how will the husband get to work from Arizona? How will they buy their food, clothes and toys (preferably without lead based paint) for their two small children. How can their sister and brother return to a normal life at this critical stage of their new marriage? My answer is through the love of Milts and Marines. Those who have seen tragedy and received the help of caring, selfless souls are the best people to know how to return it.

The first and most important thing you can do is repost this message in your social network profiles, email to friends & co-workers and get the word out.

Here is a link to their blog - Rebuild Shangrila. Please stop by and leave a comment, let them know how you heard about their loss, this helps them track their message around the world (Kristin works with the husband/father at General Atomics - ASI) and if you feel so inclined - leave a donation to their rebuilding efforts.

You can leave your comments and messages of support at: http://punkychicken.typepad.com/

Some specific items they need are as such:

* Gift cards for clothes and other basic needs
* Help finding a home while we rebuild
* A good contractor that can help us get going on the rebuild
* Help with their website – we want to set up a forum or something that all of San Diego can access to get leads on housing, contractors and other support.

If you are able to help financially and want to send money immediately, you can use paypal (http://www.paypal.com) to this email: lbug3000@cox.net or you can also mail to the address below.

Christie Williams
PMB 304
1672 Main Str. Suite E
Ramona, CA 92065

Thank you brothers and sisters.

Your call to action will be embedded in history.

Jerry c/o '88