|
I wish my husband and I could stand up and read this to you all today. I never knew the effects of the fire that we had on January 7th 2008 would last so long. My husband and I are still going through post traumatic stress and it can be pretty intense. I never knew it could be so debilitating.
We had lived in our apartment in Hoboken since 1989. My husband had many years of history with the building - we even worked in the tavern below for 8 years - when it was a German bar - so we grew really attached to our place. My husband is a musician and lost all his beautiful instruments and years of compositions. I love all kinds of art and over the years had done a lot of paintings and creative decorating. I had run a volunteer non-profit free kayaking program for Hoboken for many years, so we were pretty embedded in the community. That all is no more. We are pretty tapped out now emotionally.
When we had to run out of our apartment 1:00 am that night - (with our cat that almost died through all this in a cardboard box) - and watched the building go up in huge flames on that cold winter night we were very grateful (and that is an understatement for sure....) for people like the Red Cross and Claudio, who stepped in right way to save us.
I'll never forget how Claudio made sure I had my eyeglasses replaced quickly and he made sure we had a roof over our head and food. Every time I put my glasses on I think of Claudio and the Red Cross. It still amazes me to this day how wonderful they were in our time of need. I can't say enough good things about Claudio and Nancy and the Red Cross.
I am blown away by the level of care and compassion. These Red Cross folks are truly angels in our eyes. I wish my husband and I were together enough right now - to get up in front of the crowd this morning but unfortunately some things take time to heal I guess.
We hope to help support the Red Cross once we get our lives a little more back together. The Red Cross, Claudio, Nancy are just amazing souls. I truly don't know where we would be without them.
Thank You Claudio.....You are the best.
Sandy Sobanski, Jan Swider & Chi Chi
|
