Veterans Organization Looking for Help After Weekend Fire
Source: Indianapolis Fire Department / IFD Press Release
INDIANAPOLIS — You may have heard about a large fire that destroyed a housing facility for veterans in downtown Indianapolis. The organization that runs that facility needs your help now more than ever before.
“We had a few minor injuries like smoke inhalation, but thankfully we were able to account for all forty-eight veterans that were living there,” says Helping Veterans and Families (HVAF) CEO Emmy Hildebrand, “everyone survived and that is a miracle.”
The cause of the fire is still unknown. Over 30 Indianapolis Fire Department crews responded Saturday night around 9:30, and the fire took over 3 hours to bring under control. Indianapolis Metro Police also responded to the scene, and IndyGo assisted with transporting veterans and their families to nearby hotels.
HVAF is looking for any financial support it can get. Those hotels cost money, as do the mountain of new resources each veteran needs.
Hildebrand tells WIBC’s Hammer and Nigel show, “we set-up a special fire assistance fund. We would really appreciate anyone who visits our website, HVAF.org, and financially give to help support the immediate basic needs that our veterans are facing. We also have a link on our website to our Amazon wishlist. We’ve updated it to target really specific needs for those veterans who were displaced on Saturday.”
Hildebrand says the veterans have “some pretty long faces,” and they know there’s a long road ahead for recovery.
