Guhnegay and Wado to each and every single one of you. I and my family feel your support and love. I’m just at a loss for words; we are so overwhelmed. Yesterday late afternoon, I was home alone and writing a work narrative. About 4pm, I felt hungry and went into the kitchen. I made the indoor and outdoor pets some food and took it outside. I then fed the indoor pets and began to make myself something to eat when I heard some loud thumps, like something falling on the back porch. I went out the back door and saw the fire coming from under the cats’ house and from under the small chest freezer. I immediately called 911 because it had already spread to the roof and to the adjoining storage room. I tried to pull the cats’ house off the porch and burned my hand. While I had 911 on the phone I ran to the front of the house and grabbed the 100ft heavy garden hose but it was tangled and so heavy, it took me a what seemed like several minutes to drag it around to the back porch but, I did. I sprayed and sprayed but could see the flames were quickly getting away from me. I could not get back into the house through the back door. So I ran around to the front door and found granddaughter Kyah’s gray Tabby crying loudly at the end of the hallway. I grabbed him and my meds, my purse, my phone, glasses, and laptop and ran it all to the car. I had put our old dachshund Molly on the front porch but left the door open when I went to find Kyah’s cat. I called and called for Molly and worried that she had gone back into the house and probably was overcome. By then the power had shut off and neighbors were in the yard, fire crews were arriving and they wouldn’t let me go back to get Molly and Felix, our orange Tabby. I have not slept a minute since I awoke yesterday morning. I keep remembering our traditional tribal clothes, eagle feathers, my great-grandma’s letter she wrote to me back in 1981 just a year before she died at 98, the school and photo albums I had made for each grandchild over their elementary school years, my mom and dad’s portrait, our shawls, all our photographs, my cameras and lenses. But our two fur babies are haunting us. We could hear Felix crying but couldn’t see him or get to him. This morning, we found Molly in the ashes inside our once cozy home. She had gone back into her little pen we made for her in the living room. The two outdoor cats are freaked out, but alive.

We have no clothes other than what we were wearing and we all were wearing only socks and flip flops. No coats anymore. No blankets. No anything.

I called 911 at 4:21 pm. The fire crews were there until almost 11pm. Our home and everything we had are now a pile of charred rubble.

We can’t leave the cats and the horse at home and move to another site so for now, we’ll likely stay next door on my oldest daughter’s couches as we deal with the insurance company process. It is just that - a process that our agent says takes time. We will recover and this painful experience will become a bittersweet memory. At this point, I’m grateful for my job, to be surrounded by good community and all the people who are asking how to help. It’s always been much easier for me to ask for help for someone else than for myself, as I’m strong and resourceful. As much as it pains me, I know we really do need some help now. I am asking for your prayers, positive thoughts and for whatever you can spare to help us without jeopardizing your own families. I thank you, I will continue my community work as always and will in turn help you someday should you find yourself in our situation. Guhnegay, Wado Nigada, Thank you everyone. We will keep you posted.—JoKay Dowell

Edit: Based on advice from family and friends, using costs to replace winter clothing and rental expenses until the insurance process of evaluation and negotiation and inventory of property which could take months we are told , we set the fundraising goal above. But we will appreciate anything anyone can give.