Thanks from the Family

We want to express our deepest gratitude for your support after we lost our home. As much as we would like to send a personal thank you note to each of you, things have yet to settle down for us. We apologize for the impersonal nature of this letter but we didn’t want you to think we forgot about you and your kindness.

We are still spending most of our free time recovering from the loss. This includes taking our boys to crisis counseling, meeting with the house re-builders, doing a lot of paperwork, making phone calls with the insurance company, fire investigators, the State Attorney and more. A lot of time was spent shopping to replace essentials from band-aids to hats & gloves. The list is endless. We also made all-day trips to Home Depot to fill out selections sheets for the re-builders (picking faucets, ceiling lights, door knobs, all the way down to the smallest detail!). At a time like this, our boys needed extra attention & love. Whenever there’s opportunity, we give them our undivided attention.

2005 started with the trial for the arson and related charges. Due to insufficient evidence, the State Attorney dropped charges against one of the juveniles. An 11-year old kid was found guilty of Reckless Endangerment & Negligence, put on supervised probation, ordered to do community service at the fire department and take a fire-safety course. The fire was neither planned nor intentional. He found matches in the parking lot and decided to play with it in our back yard (which opens up to the community common area). Unfortunately the fire got out of control. We have known this kid since he was 6. He was a good friend of our boys. He was a nice kid who would climb up a tree for our boys to retrieve toys that got stuck. At sentencing, we told him that we forgive him and believe that he is a good kid. It was one of the saddest days of our lives.

We decided that it would be best for us to move and create new memories in a new home. Our house was put on the market earlier this month. We got an offer in less than a week and will settle in March. The re-building process has finally started last week and should be completed by the end of February. Pictures are below if you’re curious.

Things are starting to move forward. The trial is over. Our house is under contract. We completed paperwork for the re-builders. The rebuilding has started. We’re now focusing on personal property insurance claims, looking for a new home and furniture shopping. We have been in limbo and look forward to get out of it when we move in our new home.

We are getting our lives together again. It is taking much longer than we expected. From the bottom of our hearts, we sincerely thank you for all you have done. It made a world of difference to the boys and us. Your love and support meant a lot to us. Thank you.

With sincerest appreciation,

Kelby, Jeanette, Austin, and Cody

The house re-building finally starts!

Kelby and JP's House

Update: 10/08/04

The Brick-Pereira family continues to appreciate the wonderful support and generosity of the community who contributed to ease their recovery from the fire. Kelby and JP have the list of people who gave and they plan to personally acknowledge the contributions. They continue to be overwhelmed with the time consuming tasks involved in the recovery, such as shopping for basics such as bandaids to laundry baskets among other household items (thumb tacks, scotch tape, paper, etc.), medicines, contacting businesses and agencies in relation to the fire, arranging for the children's transportation, etc., etc., etc.

This past week alone they've had to deal with several problems with their current rental home in which 7 different companies/contractors came for different problems ranging from plumbing to electricity to gas leak. A new furance will be installed.

In regard to rebuilding their fire destroyed home, they've been working with the rebuilders, HOA (Home Owners Assn), and draftsmen. In working with the draftsmen, decisions need to be made related to the structure of home, which then must be reviewed and approved by a licensed architect, and then submitted to the county for approval. One can only imagine the numerous time consuming meetings involved in learning about this process and then acting on this. This includes visiting model homes to get ideas, evaluate, consult, and then making decisions. This is just the paperwork for the floor plans and structures and it's only going to get worse as they decide the kind of flooring, fixtures, colors, theme, etc., etc., etc. It's almost like building your own home, but being restricted by the four walls and not having the benefit of starting from scratch while living elsewhere in a familiar home and location.

These above activities are in addition to keeping up with their usual busy lives of raising a family, making a living, housekeeping chores, shopping, cooking, paying bills, etc., and, most important, preparing for Cody's 3rd birthday which is on October 31. And, yes, they need to get ready for the Trick or Treaters as well as take their boys for Trick or Treat. And Cody decided to be a FIREFIGHTER for Halloween. This home fire has really consumed their lives and they have yet to return to their normal life routine.

Those of you who have contributed via PayPal have receipts confirming your payment. As for those of you who mailed checks to the bank, the bank does not share the source of the donation. So you would have to depend on your bank's monthly statement for confirmation that the check was cleared. It will be quite a while before they will be able to acknowledge each of you personally for your support.

Warm regards, Larry

Kelby and JP's House

Wednesday, October 6
Cause of Fire: Arson

The investigators have determined that the cause of the fire was arson.
Arrests have been made. Two juveniles were arrested and then released to
the parents' custody. The State Attorney's Juvenile Division have
charged the juveniles for first degree arson in addition to other
related charges.

Larry, Kelby's Father

Kelby and JP's House

Kelby and JP's House
Monday, September 20, 2004

The Kelby Brick-Pereira family has moved from their small 2 room hotel suite to a small ranch style, 3 bedroom brick home, 2 baths a few miles away from their Greenbelt home. JP mentioned that the home was built prior to 1978 with its small rooms, but it's certainly a big improvement from their cramped hotel suite. Out of concern about lead in the home, I called the Dept of Environmental Health and learned that the home was built in 1960 and was certified as lead free on 3/24/98. This investigation via a series of internet searches and phone calls took over an hour, time that Kelby and JP have precious little of these days.

Their current address until they move back to their rebuilt home is:

8330 Quentin Lane, New
Carrollton, MD 20784
The telephone company has arranged call forwarding calls sent to their original home phone to their current rental home phone. So you can reach their answering machine at 301-345-0990.

JP and her sister Laura have been spending the week-end scrubbing the kitchen cabinets and laying down contact paper and shopping for much needed clothing and items while Kelby spends his spare time, when not working, battling with the utilities to get the electricity and broadband working properly. Seven fuses were blown before he complained to the management, who had the nerve to question what electrical appliances were being used (just the lamps and TV that came with the rental home as they had just moved in). Yes, this 40 year old home still has fuses that screw in like light bulbs which Kelby remembers used to exist way back when as a toddler, he used to follow his Daddy to the basement to watch him replace the blown fuses, and my current pre-1900 home in Philadelphia has circuit breakers!!! The electricians came and solved the problem. As for Comcast, who continue to live up to their famous lousy reputation for service, they arrived at 5:00 pm on Sunday instead of some time down the road to fix the problem after Kelby read them the riot act. The Comcast cable connection kept disconnecting after a minute. The cause of the problem was traced to the strip of carpet nails that’s used to hold the carpet in place. The nails penetrated the cable running under the carpet and over the carpet nail strips.

JP is still working with the school district transportation arrangements for Austin as JP and Kelby are still stuck with driving him to and from school as the home is in a different school district from their Greenbelt home. In fact she's here right now at Gary's and Gwynne's house going through the many bags of clothing that have been donated.

As for the rebuilding progress. The house is still being gutted which means removal of debris from the fire, including the destroyed floors, walls, etc. Until this is done with the shell remaining, the rebuilding can't begin.

Larry's Comment: I've gone into detail about what Kelby and JP have been doing. While there's been much loss in terms of money and goods, not to mention the resultant emotional stress involved, most of this can be recovered and the family continues to move forward. But the one thing that can never be recovered is the precious lost of time that could be spent with family togetherness, routine daily enjoyment of simple things in life such as watching a favorite TV program, going out to eat, taking a drive, dropping over to see friends or having friends drop over, entertaining, etc. For in addition to the usual daily chores that goes with taking care of the family and hearth and earning a living, an enormous amount of time is being spent shopping to replace what can't be recovered, dealing with the recovery of their home, bringing their new, temporary living quarters up to standard, having to run to the store for taken for granted around the home things as minor, but necessary, as thumbtacks, etc., etc., etc. The community support has been heartwarming and uplifting. People ask if there's anything else they can do to help. From my seat, the biggest help would be anything that would save them time, such as familiar people taking care of the boys, bringing over a meal that requires just plopping into the microwave (JP is vegetarian), or any other errands one can think of.

Larry, Kelby's Father

Fundraiser at Chevys in Greenbelt

A fundraiser for the Brick family will be held on Monday evening, September 13 at Chevys Fresh Mex Restaurant, 7511 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD.

Chevys will donate 20 percent of the evening's receipts to the Brick family. All are welcome; just come any time between 4:00 and 10:00 p.m. and tell your server that you are there for the Brick fundraiser.

For more information, contact Robert Weinstock (Robert.Weinstock@gallaudet.edu).

Thanks!

Bob

Update from Larry Brick, Kelby's dad

Kelby & Jeanette are very appreciative of all the support they have received. Immediately after the fire, they were without food, clothes and toys. They received generous donations to tide them over until things settle down enough for them to go out & shop for food, clothes & toys. They received more things than expected and would like to thank you all for your generousity. Kelby & JP are okay with food, clothes, and toys now. They still appreciate cooked meals & help from family & friends to get their lives back together again. Sincerest thanks from all of us for your tremendous love & support.

Yours,
Larry Brick