Wanna See Where Your Money Is Going?

Jen sent me a few pics tonight. She used some of the money we have collected here at Walmart. Thank you for your donations! THIS is where your money is going.

 Jen’s first official hotel drawer of socks, undies, tees & sports bras.(Wow I have a whole drawer for each of these categories. Now I feel spoiled)

She got these three hooded sweatshirts for $5 each. Do you think maybe she's been reading my frugal blog? ;-)  

She said she was ready for a visit to the laundromat...she has only THREE complete outfits right now. Still, that's 2 more than she had on Tuesday!

The Red Cross provided this care package. It's a few basic essential items designed to get one through the first few days.

Once again, click this link to donate.

Nothing But Ashes in the Ashes

Jen went to the house today, or to what used to be the house. She spent most of the day there, but nothing was recovered. Tomorrow workers will begin clearing the rubble and she is hopeful that some items will be found as the large parts are removed.

Her local AT&T office replaced her Micro Cell Tower for free today, so she has better 3G coverage now. 

Donated Socks & Legwarmers

She received donations of new shoes, sweat shirts, pants, socks, and legwarmers today. She'll be styling for a few days, at least! A local diner has agreed to feed her two hot meals per day as long as she needs it.

The local comic store that she has frequented three times a week (wait--that's more than Sheldon goes!) found out about her fire and gave her Death Dealer and Witchblade comics.


When the remains of the house are gone, Jen will begin making plans to leave the area. She will probably take the offer of the summer home in Missouri, but hasn't made a commitment yet.

I spoke with her on the phone tonight while she was at Walmart. I'm hoping to get that granny-pants video.

It's heartening to hear of material goods being donated by the local community, but Jen still needs a lot of help. Her friend, Laurie, will be with her a few more days, and then she'll be on her own. She has gotten rest, but emotions well up at random times. Just having to replace the face wash that she just bought last week brought tears today. It's going to be a hard recovery, and your support will go a long way to ease this difficult transition. Thank you for all your kind comments, tweets, and donations.

To donate click here.
To vote for my photo (if I win Jen gets the prize) click here.

Finally, for those of you going to the Star Trek Las Vegas Convention (The Khan)  in August, we are going to have a Star Trek Shower for Jen! She had a nice collection of geeky stuff, including plenty of Trek toys. If you will be at the Khan plan on bringing a Trek collectible, toy, prop, or memorabilia for Jen. If you're not going to the Khan we can make other arrangements to deliver. I'm starting a list of items so that we don't get too many duplicates, so be in touch if you have something in mind.

I Know, It's Nuts...

I've uploaded one of my Space Cow Episode pics in a Hipstamatic contest. If I get 1st place I'm giving the prize to TrekJen. I got up to #9 the last time, but I've gained a pile of followers since then, so we can do it!


I hate hawking for votes, but hey it's only for 5 days. Please go to the link, vote for the pic on Twitter and Facebook and lets get this pic to #1 in the  contest called "Hearts and Unicorns." I think it's perfect, since the theme is "Irregular Affection."

Ready? Here's the link. Voting ends on Sunday. Please spread the word!

Here's the donation link for Jen, too!

TrekJen Update 2/9/11--Lots of Good News!

Wow! Where to begin. Jen had a full day!

First of all, thanks to all who have donated! If you haven't yet had the chance, here is the link. Any amount is helpful! We have collected around $2500 already! Almost 30 people have contributed. I know it sounds like a lot of money, but Jen has NOTHING. She needs clothes, furnishings, towels, dishes, toothpaste, appliances, dog food...you name it! Please give as you are able, and share this link. 

This morning Jen received a generous grocery gift card from a local church. Other churches are donating food and clothing from banks they have.  A donation pool from her work was set up to pay her first months rent! How awesome is that?

The Red Cross really pulled through for her! They gave her a month's worth of microwave dinners and water, a Mastercard, and replaced her asthma medicine and nebulizer! They set her up with an optometrist who donated his basic services. She is using some of the money we've collected here to pay for the lenses. Poor Jen can't drive without her glasses and they were lost in the fire!

Isn't this the most depressing picture you've seen all day?

Jen's friend Laurie and the Fire Chief drove her to the house site today. There were some hidden treasures in the rubble.  Star Trek Ken and Barbie survived the fire!! Their box was fried, but they were in perfect condition inside. She sent me this picture of them celebrating. (I think their celebration was for finally being out of the box!) 

Yay! We survived a fire!

Jen's water heater seems to be in good condition, and her Duet washer and dry need a new power cable and a good cleaning, but otherwise appear to be OK. She found a family photo, which needs a new frame, one of her four sealed copies of Fantastic Four, and a metal file cabinet full of paperwork. She was unable to open the file cabinet, but hopeful that it wasn't too waterlogged inside.Various sealed metal containers were found full of water, but some of the contents may be saved.

She found 4 of her 5 hard drives! They did not burn, but she did pour water out of them. For now they are in rice. Tomorrow she will try to find some silica powder. I told her a craft store may have some for flower drying.

Great advice and support has been coming in via Twitter. @NebraskaDave reminded her to get copies of her W2 and other important forms for taxes ASAP. A computer expert, @CamaroSS was referred to us by @cbryanjones. He has some instructions for (hopefully) saving the data on the hard drives that were recovered today.  @RJM1138 has been tweeting pleas for assistance for 2 straight days. He has offered up some of his amazing Star Trek collection to help Jen redecorate once she's settled. @grimagination offered to transfer all of his Starbucks card balances to her. @tishalulle1 has clothing in Jen's size she is willing to send. The response has been wonderful.


Just this evening I got a very excited text from Jen. Someone has offered her 6-9 months RENT FREE in their FURNISHED summer home in Missouri. This is a great opportunity for her to get her life back! Her job takes her to MO, TX, OK and back to NM. She can travel for her job, keep her home base in MO, save money on rent and utilities, and rebuild her life and her belongings! It's wonderful news about a very generous offer!

Wednesday Morning Update on TrekJen

Jen was able to get 6 hours of sleep. The fire chief and her pal are driving her out to the house site this morning  for a closer look. It snowed last night, but I'm not sure how much. Last night someone found one of her longboards in the ash and she forwarded the picture to me.

Tweeps have been generous in their donations and their spreading of the news! Jennifer is very grateful!!
Thanks to donations, and free general services from the eye doctor, she is going to get her glasses replaced today! YES! This is what I'm talking about people--Immediate Needs!! Thank you!

Also on the agenda today is finding a place to live.

I care barely imagine how tough seeing her burned up belongings is going to be for Jen. Please keep her in your thoughts today, and continue to share the donation link.

As of 9:20 a.m. PST on Wednesday 2/9 the donations are $2400. It sounds like a lot, but remember, Jen needs to replace EVERYTHING: clothes, toiletries, dishes, towels, a bed, furnishings, etc. Got $20? That could buy a pair of jeans. Got only $10? That could buy a couple of towels. Got only $5? That could buy some socks. Thanks for anything you can do!

Widget is Inaccurate. Jen is getting your donations!

Jen had some PayPal issues earlier and had to change the email address on her account. The widget started working after the change, but all the donations before the switch are not showing up on it. Rest assured, your donations have been received and they will be available to her. She has PayPal verification of that. Thanks to everyone who has donated and/or helped spread the word!

Jen is exhausted, physically and emotionally. Hopefully sleep has finally won out late this afternoon. Her friend should be arriving early this evening. I thank God for so much in this time of tragedy: for many generous souls online, for a dear friend who is suspending her own life to travel a great distance to support and assist Jen this week, for the donation of shelter, for the marvelous Treknology that allows us instant communication, support and transfer of funds.  I am also grateful that Jen & her dog had left the house to sleep someplace warm. If she would have been asleep in the house with a smoldering attic, it could have been the end of Jen.

I spoke with Jen this afternoon. She is overwhelmed by the speedy mobilization of aid from her Twitter friends. She has a tough road ahead, but has come through hard times before. She is strong, smart and resilient. She is very grateful to all of you. Thank you very much!

TrekJen Donation Site Is Now Live