Fundraiser For Dad Who Dropped Son Out 2nd Story Window of Burning Everett Home

December 17, 2013

Everett

A father in one of the families affected by a fire on December 7th in north Everett has started an online fundraising campaign to try to recover from losing most everything they own. If you’d like to contribute you can do so by clicking here. Contributed funds go directly to the family and are not tax-deductible. Here, he says, is a bit of his story…

Rainier Fire 1

Rainier Fire 2 Nguyen Phong Trinh was born in Vietnam, his mother passed away giving birth to him, he never got to meet his father. So at the start of his life he lost everything he had, but thankfully his aunt was there to take care of him and raise him. In Vietnam they had hardships and had to make a choice to try and have a second chance in life and chose America. When Nguyen Phong got to America his family did not have much, they lived in government subsidized housing and needed assistance.They worked very hard and finally things were looking up for him. His Aunt got out of subsidized housing and into a better neighborhood. He graduated from school, fell in love and got married. He and his wife decided to rent a room at our mutual best friends’ dad’s house. They also have been working diligently, trying to get his wife’s paperwork with immigration sorted so she can get her green card and continue working toward citizenship. About six months ago he had a baby boy, this pushed him work even harder to make more cash to pursue the dream of owning a home. They were doing fairly well and had accumulated some funds as well as some creature comforts such as TV, laptop, and everything that their baby boy would need.

On Dec 7th 2013 just after midnight a tragic event occurred; A fire broke out on the first floor of the home. They managed to escape with their lives and little else. Nguyen Phong had to go out of a second story window, holding his six month old child. He saved his son first. Luckily, someone was outside to catch his son. Unfortunately, Nguyen Phong was not so lucky. He broke his leg when he jumped down. He caught his wife when she jumped anyway, and she was not hurt. Sadly, his family lost everything (other than the keys, phone, and wallet he had in his pocket) including close to $1000 cash which they had squirreled away. His young family and their house mates had to stand outside in the cold and watch the house burn while fire crews tried to extinguish it. EVERYTHING was consumed in the fire, including his roommate’s 3 dogs, 1 cat, and 2 snakes.

Editor’s note: I spoke with Nguyen Phong Trinh by phone and he told me that to top everything off, last Friday his wife’s car was totaled in an accident as she was coming home from work. They do have car insurance but it will be a while before their claim can be handled. Again this fundraiser is an online direct plea for funds by this family and is not through any charitable organization.

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