Local family displaced after fire

SUNRISE LAKES — When Heather and Mike Teller lost their house in a fire March 27, leaving them homeless, Heather’s sister Jennifer Taylor had an idea.

To help her sister’s family, she created a fundraiser website to raise money for the stricken family — mom Heather, dad Mike, and kids Michael, 13 and Matthew, 11, and Brianna, 9.

“They are in desperate need of help and any help will be greatly appreciated," Jennifer wrote.

TO make matters worse, after the fire, the Tellers had to move out quickly. Their landlord had served them with an eviction notice even though the lease was still effective. They had nowhere to go after Red Cross helped them by offering three days of hotel accommodations and clothes.

So they moved in with Jennifer who is disabled. The Tellers had to sleep in the living room.

The fire started through an electrical problem in the boys’ room, and spread through the house.

“Everything else was water and smoke damaged,” Heather wrote in an e-mail.

The boys lost everything they had in the fire. The rest of the house is currently unlivable, and the Tellers will not be moving back to live there.

“Our landlord is having the house redone with the homeowners insurance money, and is putting it up for sale, leaving us homeless," Heather said in a phone call. “The fire happened on Easter weekend, and the landlord told us to clean the place up by Monday. I didn’t think we had to do that, but did it anyway.”

Heather likes the school district for her kids, but especially for Jonathan who is autistic and in special education in Shohola.

“Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. I am normally not one to ask for help but any help will be greatly appreciated more than you know. Thank you and God Bless,” the Teller family wrote on the gofundme.com website.

“This is the worst thing we have been through, we are very thankful we still have all our children most of all. Our youngest son was sleeping in the bed that caught fire 20 minutes before. Thank you all for your help and support,” the Tellers concluded.

To help the Tellers, visit www.gofundme.com/qf75xw?fb_action_ids=10152802712444786&fb_action_types=og.shares&fb_ref=undefined