- By Michelle Mogil
- Around Town
Print 
Where do I start? Maybe with the two total strangers, who just happened to be driving by at 4:45 AM Saturday morning, just happened to be volunteers with the Spencer-Van Etten fire department, and stopped to help us keep our heads during those first frantic minutes?
Maybe with our neighbors and friends who came pouring out of their cozy houses to offer shelter, jackets, water, coffee, and a safe haven for our dog? Maybe with the Lansing, Ithaca, and Cayuga Heights fire fighters, all of whom did their very best to save our house? (Special thanks go to those brave CHFD fire fighters who gingerly carried Charlie, our 5 foot desert king snake, to safety in her 65 gallon tank despite their obvious aversion to reptiles!)
A special thank you, also, to whomever found our cat Milo and handed him off to fire fighter Becki Bills for oxygen and a warm towel.) How about the American Red Cross people who showed up practically in the wake of the fire engines? Or the All Saints congregation in Lansing who, though we don't even belong to the church, took up a generous collection, as well as the Methodist congregation who offered their prayers and sympathy?
Or the faculty and staff at Lansing Middle School who sent over a huge dinner of lasagna and salad? Or the hundreds of individuals who called, begging to help, asking what we needed, offering clothing, shelter, food, prayers and comfort? Oh, and how about a special thank you to Karen and Dan Veaner at the Lansing Star Online for giving us this opportunity to acknowledge the above organizations and individuals?
I'm sitting here trying to find the words to say just how grateful we are and the words are failing me. So many people have expressed sorrow over the loss of our two beloved cats, Simba and Daisy, and the loss of our home and our possessions. But, while we are going to miss our cats terribly, and there are a few sentimental items that simply cannot be replaced, the house can be rebuilt and the rest is just stuff.
It's thanks to the support of you wonderful people that our family has the strength and resources to consider the future with high hopes and eagerness to rebuild. So, from Dennis, Michelle, Stephanie, Teresa, Sarah, Malcolm the dog, Milo the cat, and Charlie the snake: thank you from the bottom of our collective hearts. We are so blessed to live in such a wonderfully thoughtful and caring community.
-Michelle Mogil
| Before 5am Saturday Morning the Mogil family awoke to find their Asbury Road home in flames. The Lansing, Cayuga Heights and Ithaca Fire Departments all responded, including 17 Lansing volunteer fire fighters and EMTs. A lot of the structure of the house was destroyed, according to Lansing Fire Chief Scott Purcell. "Were there from about 5am to 11am," he says. The house and its contents are a total loss, but miraculously the whole family, their pet snake and one of their three cats survived. The community immediately went into high gear to offer help. The Mogils asked to publish this thank you, which we are more than glad to do. -- Editor |
----
v2i14