An Avionté employee, Heidi Wojcik, recently experienced a late night startling as someone was breaking glass in the hallway outside of her apartment. As she stuck her head into the hallway to see what was happening, she was engulfed by black smoke. Heidi quickly scooped up her 3 year old daughter and exited the building as fast as she could. Aside from the smoke damage, Heidi’s apartment was unaffected.  The fire was isolated to one apartment and unfortunately this family lost everything they owned.

The Grandparents who are raising their two young Grandsons were moved into a vacant apartment within the building, but lost all personnel belongings.  The family had no renters insurance and is literally starting at ground zero.

On behalf of AHF, Heidi visited with the family the following weekend. She commented on how, The grandfather  was in good spirits, joking around telling Heidi he would offer her a place to sit but he only has the floor.   He said, “Sometimes you get knocked down and have to crawl before you can walk again.”  One of the little boys commented on how the fire burned everything and they don’t have any toys to play with.

AHF contributed by donating gift cards to Target, Kohls, and Cub Foods to help them start rebuilding all they had lost.   Avionté also shared the story with its employees and the following week had another delivery for the family that included a large bin of toys for the boys, home goods and additional gift certificates. We are hoping that with our donation and the help from the community this family can get back on their feet a little faster.