Jay McCarthy, who writes the blog Makeoutcity, is Boston’s deepest blogger. He’s also Boston’s newest homeless blogger: lightning struck his family’s house and it burned to the ground early Sunday morning.
It is 7:08 AM on Sunday, May 23rd 2004. I am
sitting in my car behind my burning house. Just about two hours ago my
house was struck by lighting and I woke up to the sound of the fire
alarms. Although, at the time I did not know about the lighting.
As I waited in bed for the alarms to go off,
I thought about how annoying it is when this happens. For some reason
over the past few months they have turned on a few times, it never
really happened before so I wasn’t used to the deafening sound.
I heard my parents walking around and I
assumed that they were trying to turn them off. I wasn’t sure how this
was done so I didn’t think anything was amiss about it taking so long.
About 5 or 10 minutes later I started
smelling smoke and heard my dad looking in the attic outside my room.
It was now he started screaming, “The house is REALLY on fire. Get
anything you can and get out!” He said this as he walked down the
stairs and when he came back in after putting something outside.
I was a bit panicked and shaken but I grabbed
my backpack and threw my computers in it and put on some pants. I
should have probably put on the pants with my wallet in them, but for
some reason I didn’t. And I should have probably got a jacket as well
seeing as it is so cold now.
Everyone in his family escaped unharmed, but
right now, they only have what they were able to carry out of the house
and the clothes on their backs.
Although insurance will cover most of his
family’s costs, there will be a lot that it won’t cover. If you’ve got
a PayPal account and a little extra cash to spare, you might want to send some money using the PayPal donation site kindly set up by Boston blogger Lisa Williams.
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SCAM? OR REAL?
not sure, sounds fishy for paypal funds. please advise.
Not a scam. I know both Jay (the guy whose house burned down) and Lisa (who started the fund) personally, and can vouch for them.
Also, you can check out a bunch of other bloggers who know and care for Jay. He's a friend, and so is Lisa.
Why should we fund this guy? Houses burn down all the time. Worse things happen to all sorts of people.
Why whould this guy have some special privilege?
Because he is a community member. This is what communities do. They band together to help in times of trouble. Just because we're online doesnt make us less real a community as one suffering Ebola outbreaks in the Sudan. The only difference is they dont have paypal accounts and disposable income.
Okay, cowboy, put down the double espresso and back away slowly.
It's a suggestion, not an order. If you have neither the means nor the motivation, don't give him a red cent.
Jay's a friend of mine, and many readers of this blog are also readers of his. I'm always happy to chip in a couple of bucks for a anyone I know when s/he needs it, and Jay is someone I know. I suspect many other Makeoutcity readers would probably do the same if they knew his situation.
I know there are people worse off than Jay -- luckily, he lives in North America, where houses are built to code and insurance is readily available. I know quite well that many are worse off than he -- remember, I'm a firt-gen immigrant from a third-world country. Even so, isn't he entitled to some sympathy? Otherwise you've got situations like this:
Friend: My dog died.
Me: Dogs die all the time! Worse things happen to all sorts of people. What do you want, a cookie?
Friend: My mom died.
Me: Moms die all the time! Worse things happen to all sorts of people. What do you want, a cookie?
Friend: 2 million of my people were wiped out my homeland of Sudan.
Me: Thank you for submitting your application for consideration.
By the way, the IP address attached to your comment says that you posted from a machine connected to Insight Broadband, which services Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. That puts you in the central part of the richest and most powerful country in the world. Does that mean that you are exempt from any form of sympathy because you're living better than 99% of the world?
Jeeminy Christmas, I can't believe this conversation is taking place. Joey, you are great to actually respond to this poseur.
We've determined that this is not a scam. Yes, worse things happen, and we, should the spirit move us, help people in worse situations as well. He is not being "funded", those who contribute are simply giving him a more useful gift than sympathy flowers.
Good...