Very Bad News, ComicDonna (Mike) just lost his house in a Fire

[skypinkblu]

Look at the bright side you get to rebuild the house with an even bigger comic cave .... :shrug:

 

Mike will have to give you the details, but from what I understood yesterday, it does not sound like they can rebuild there.

 

Damn. I'm curious why that would be.

 

 

His wife was explaining something about not being able to have a well. The house was old and I guess it was built before whatever rules are in place.

 

Don't really know exactly.

[skypinkblu]

Do we have a paypal email address to donate to yet? I would just as well donate a monetary amount to them. I looked back about 5 pages and didnt see one or one in the VCC. Who is collecting the money and I can donate some to them.

 

I have it, I'll pm you

 

I have not posted it anywhere for privacy issues, but people have been PMing me and I try to answer promptly:) Thanks for the help!

[Bruno_s4]

So sorry for your loss.

Good news about the 4 CGC boxes but I think I would be most distraught over the loss of family photos/videos. Those are truly irreplaceable.

Mike, your daughter is a hero and you are all very lucky.

Insurance will take care of the rest and you will move past this eventually.

Glad you are all okay.

 

[Silver Surfer]

Wow been awake for about a week but this is terrible news. Mike glad you made it out safe, I need to catch up on the fund raising stuff and go bid on some books. (thumbs u

[comicdonna]

Hi everyone:

 

It's been crazy since the fire. We've been on the road all day every day trying to take care of everything. I'll try to give you a partial update now.

 

First of all, I want to thank everyone for all of the support. I will be contacting everyone privately who sent me money, and who donated and winning the auctions. Just give me a few days to get some more things taken care of. My family and I are forever grateful for everything you all have done.

 

The house that we lived in was owned by my wife's mother, She had her own apartment attached to the house where she spent 3 or 4 months there in the summer. Otherwise, she is in Florida. My wife and I Pay the taxes, homeowners ins. utilities ect... We are very lucky in one respect. Last october, the homeowners insurance went up drastically. My wife called to see why and, with her mom living in Florida, There was no longer a combined policy. Anyhow, I had Allstate with my truck so, my wife and I were added to the policy and we got the discount. IF WE HAD NOT DONE THIS, we would not have been covered for all of our belongings. We would have had to have renters insurance, which we did not.

 

Allstate has set us up in an extended stay hotel suite. Whe believe we have found a house which the insurance will cover rent for 6 months. We will only need a security deposit. They will also rent us furniture for 6 months lest deposit. There was a nicer place for $1950 per month furnished but, we are choosing the other place for $1000 per month. It will be cheaper to heat too. My wife is pretty much set up to go back to work. It's going to be a few weeks for me. I had researched the entire area (12 years worth) for prospective clients who had timber. All of that research was destroyed. As soon as I can clear up some more things such as everything in my wife's purse (drivers liscense, credit and debit cards). Basically, a small suitcase worth, I will be on the road finding work as I am alsmost finished where I am.

 

I will try to keep everyone posted as to what's going on.

 

Thank you so much all,

 

Mike

[Sal]

So sorry to hear about this, Mike. Glad you and yours are okay, and that you were at least able to salvage some of your books. They're just things, sure, but when it all goes away like that, it's nice to have at least something.

 

Best of luck to you.

[Jeffreykli]

Great to hear about the update; stay productive and focus on the family. I'm sorry for your loss, but also heartened by the response from the Boards and your updates.

[Freekster]

Yes. Best of luck to you and your family.

[kc120us]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your home, Mike.

[40sJohn]

Thanks for keeping us updated, Mike. Best wishes to you and your family in the coming weeks.

 

 

[Fantastic Thor]

Sorry to hear about this Mike .

I hope you and the family are ok the next few weeks !

 

T

[skypinkblu]

 

Not trying to Spam, but I wanted people who were looking to see this note..

 

We will be loading (the "we is Shin",) a few more auctions in a bit, but comic donations have to be closed now. I missed a few of the raffle donations, so those are going up.

 

Everyone has been very generous with donations, and I hate saying no to more, but it's going to be tough to handle so many even with our wonderful volunteers...so..for everyone who is emailing me and asking "am I too late"...I'm finally going to have to say "yes"

 

Of course Paypal donations are still accepted, just PM me for Mike's Paypal address.

 

So, now we need MORE (or is that MOAR?) Bidders...the turnout so far is wonderful...and to all of you

[supapimp]

i love SPAM!

[bryan91]

It is great to hear from you Mike. Keep your head up and I wish you the best of luck trying to get things all sorted out.

[comicdonna]

So, the insurance company has a special section for comics. $1000 maximum coverage. $200 for coins. We need to itemize every item in the house right down to the toothpicks. Along with the item, you need to list when and where you purchased it, and what you paid for it. When the list is completed by us, the adjuster will come up with a current value for the item (depreciated in most cases). She said it may take her a month to process the list after we submit it. Then we will get a check. We have 6 months after we get the check to purchase a new item. If it costs more than the amount we were paid by the insurance company, they will reimburse us the difference.

 

The property consists of about 55 acres of land which extends in back of many of the houses on our street. My wife could have a modular slapped on there in a few months but, there will be issues such as water and sewer with the town.

basically, there is no water on our side of the road. 'also, no access to public water. Donna's father spent 100K trying to find water with no luck. When I arrived there 10 years ago, there was a cave 5000' from the house. A small stream came out of the cave. There was a washtub sunk into the brook with a 5000' line that run to the house. Every time we got heavy rain, we had to carry a 100 lb pump up to pump out the water and clean away the silt. The line fed into a hand made, round rock well that was about 28' deep. The line clogged a few years ago and now only get water that seeps in when it rains alot. Where I come from in northern Vermont, water was always in high supply. The water at our house that burnt was not really good enough to even take a shower in, much less drink (if there was water.) The septic is old and would need to be updated. So, i'm not sure if there will be any rebuilding there or not.

 

We hope to have an appartment about 1/2 mile from our old house. It's directly across from the fire department. We are waiting for insurance approval and won't know until Monday.

 

 

[Chespirito]

[sckao]

Sorry to hear that. If you did a lot of online buying, your receipts (and info) may be still online on their websites. Old photographs of the interior of your home (if online) may also help jog your memory. Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[binarysunrise]

Yeah, check snapfish, shutterfly, cvs, walmart, etc. for pictures.

 

Online bookstores, walmart, drug stores, and paypal can help track past purchases.

 

Online credit card statements will be more general, but might help with memory issues. Your bank may have scanned in your checks...

[skypinkblu]

Just a reminder, Auctions #1-94, are ending tonight, starting at 8:30 PM EST . The last one #94 ends at 10pm. The rest will end tomorrow night.

Bidding late is fine, too! But just in case you are going out for another night of rabble rousing, you might want to bid early!

 

 

Here is a link for those of you who have not seen them!

 

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=69

 

I also have Mike's Paypal address if someone wants to make a straight donation, just PM me and kindly put for ComicDonna in the title.

 

 

Thanks for your support everyone and a Happy, Safe and Healthy New Year!

 

[skypinkblu]

Auctions are ending, starting at 8:30!