After Losing Everything in a Fire, This Mom Turned Tragedy Into a Mission to Help Others
This mom turned her family’s fire tragedy into a nonprofit that’s helped dozens of other families recover
Amy Wagner and her husband, Spence, sat before a warming fire in their Salem, Wisconsin, home while their son, Jake, and his wife, Kirby, were snapping pics of their new baby, Mac. But then, Amy spotted a second orange glow in the front window.
“Fire!” Jake shouted, racing downstairs. “Everybody out!”
Soon the family was standing across the street in the frigid darkness watching as everything they owned went up in flames.
Their neighbor, Jeanne, rushed out to offer help. “Let me take the baby and your dog inside,” she said.
“We have an extra room,” offered two other neighbors, Jenise and Gary. “It’s yours!”
Jake, Kirby and Mac had been staying with Amy and Spence while Jake completed his medical residency. All that they owned was packed into the garage…and the electrical fire had destroyed everything.
“It’s just stuff—we’re all safe,” Amy comforted her family, but she knew it would be tough.
The family spent two nights with the neighbors, then found a furnished Airbnb. Immediately, neighbors began bringing home-cooked meals and gift cards to help them buy clothes and everyday necessities.
“I have a baby stroller, and some others are gathering other supplies—where should we bring them?” asked a neighbor Amy hadn’t even met yet.
For the next few months, as the insurance company began rebuilding their home, Amy was amazed as friends, loved ones and complete strangers continued lavishing them with food and support. And a month before they were scheduled to move in, Amy told Spence, “We have to find a way to pay the love forward to others struggling!”
Amy arranged for a huge welcome-back party on her lawn, with food and live music. She also held silent auctions and took donations. By the end of the day, she’d collected over $5,000, which she used to purchase clothing, hotel and restaurant gift cards and toiletries for other families who were victims of fires. Amy also created a brochure of helpful information, packed the supplies in “Go-Bags,” and gave them to local fire chiefs.
“Whenever there’s a fire, give the family one of these,” Amy said to the fire departments.
Before long, Nick Land, his wife, Nyki, and their four kids were sitting in a motel room in shock after they lost their home in a fire. “We didn’t know what to do,” he says. “Then we opened Amy’s Go-Bag, and the first thing I pulled out was her brochure. It told us step-by-step about local resources and filing insurance claims. It gave us a way to move forward!”
Inspired, Amy created a nonprofit, Wagner Family Fire Fund and began reaching out to local businesses for donations and gift cards for her next round of Go-Bags.
Over the past three years, Amy has given out 70 Go-Bags—each worth $1,000—and each one warms her heart. “I’m determined to reveal the silver lining inside our family’s dark cloud,” she says. “I believe it was God’s way of inspiring me to help others!”
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
