RANCHO RESORT MAINTANANCE POSITION Health Care Sierra Tucson Eating Disorders Program Coordinator General A1 Communications Cable Techs Tucson RegionHelp sought for family whose home burnedArizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.11.2006
A real-estate company is trying to raise money for a family who lost their Catalina home in a fire four months ago.
Re/Max has been working to help get Debbie Williams, 43, back on her feet since it learned in December that she and her 5-year-old daughter Savannah had been living in tents on the property ever since, said Tim Baker, who manages more than a dozen real-estate agents at Re/Max.
Williams, her 16-year-old son Daniel and Savannah were put up in a Super 8 motel by the Red Cross for the first week after the Sept. 20 fire consumed their home when the shed went up in flames, she said.
But once the week was up, she and Savannah returned to the property and Daniel went to stay with his best friend who lives nearby.
Williams and Savannah slept in tents, cooked by fire, used a makeshift outhouse and took showers at neighbors and family members' homes, she said.
Then, in December, Williams said she was told by state Child Protective Services that she needed to provide Savannah a place to live that had locking doors for safety reasons.
Family friends Ann and Carter Thoenes allowed Williams to borrow an RV with a stove, bed, shower and toilet.
When Ann Thoenes first came to visit Debbie, she was amazed at how they were living.
"I said to Debbie, 'This is dismal, it is hard for me to leave you here,' but she said to me, 'no, it's beautiful and the stars are wonderful,' " Ann Thoenes said.
While Williams' family has offered to take her and her children in, she says she'd rather be on the property, although she admits it is time to get a real house and start over.
"I don't wanna be anywhere else; I love this place," Williams said. "I always said if I were to lose my house, I'd be camping in the front yard and here I am."
The foundation of her trailer still remains and some walls are still standing. Williams builds campfires every night using wood from the trailer that she now calls her "nightmare."
"You can tell there are days where (Williams) is extremely depressed, so the sooner they get a home the better," Baker said.
Already Re/Max has gotten Jim Click to donate a used Ford Taurus to the family, but now it would like to help raise money to purchase an $8,000 trailer.
"Some people say I should not have let this go on for so long and that it's not fair to my children," Williams said. "Others think this is fun — camping.
"It's not horrid, but it is time to get a house."
Anyone who would like to help can call 544-7468.
● Contact reporter Alexis Huicochea at 629-9412 or ahuicochea@azstarnet.com.
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