An Explosion Left Lequisha Homeless
A family friend was cooking dinner at my apartment and had a pot of water on the stove to boil when the power went out. They didn’t think about turning the stove off, so when the power came back on at 3:00am, the pot eventually exploded and caught the ceiling on fire, which spread.
I had worked a 12-hour shift that day, so by the time I got home and went to sleep, I was so tired I didn’t wake up when the fire alarm went off. I woke up to everyone in my house screaming, so I opened my bedroom door but smoke engulfed the room. I slammed the door back and thought for a split second. “I’d rather be hurt than dead,” so I opened the window and jumped out. Right as I jumped, my neighbor outside ran and caught me.
I had a huge bruise on my knee, but otherwise I wasn’t hurt from the jump. I sat on the curb and thought, “What am I going to do?” My entire kitchen was burned, and the fire also went into my living room and burned the wiring to my washer and dryer. The front door was completely melted, and the windows were all busted out.
After the fire department came out, the Red Cross showed up and got us a hotel room for the night. The next day I called my restaurant and let them know what happened. Within hours, my manager called me and told me about Giving Kitchen and helped me start an application. I didn’t have much money in savings, so when I heard about GK, it took a major burden off of me so quick.
With some organizations, you have to wait a long time for the help to come, so I thought it was going to be a super long process. But I needed help right then, not several weeks later. The application was straightforward and André called me regularly with updates throughout the process, so I was able to get my financial assistance within days.
Giving Kitchen helped me move back into my place, and I didn’t have to worry about my bills for a month – it was so amazing. I was so thankful for the help because it would’ve just been so hard to start over.
I love how willing GK is to help everyone in this industry - that’s what I love about Giving Kitchen.
Giving Kitchen was there for Lequisha when she needed us most, and GK will be here for food service workers for other food service workers like her in the future. Support them by giving to Giving Kitchen today.