The family.

Hey all.

On October 9th, Michael Bailey and his family had seven minutes to evacuate their homes in order to escape the wildfires that are still, as of this writing, rampaging merry hell through California.

Jumping on top of this, novelist Brian Keene set up a GoFundMe for the Baileys because, flat out, they lost everything.  It is all gone and the pictures/video Michael has posted show the extent of the devastation.  Seen pictures of Dresden post-bombing?  Like that.

Brian put a modest cap at $5,000 and, within 24 hours, contributors (mostly colleagues of Michael’s in the horror industry because, a, Michael has done immeasurable good for our industry and, b, we know how to help a comrade out) doubled that.  We’re now, one week in, nearly at $15,000 for Michael, Kelly, and their kids to literally–and this isn’t by any stretch of the imagination hyperbole–rebuild their lives.  Hence, why I’m here, telling you.  A signal boost.

Go here and help out.  Hell, boost the link or this post if you can’t spare the scratch, but get it out there to those who maybe can.  Now, people, in light of these events, might be tempted to contribute goods.  However, as Karen Merzenich points out, this is usually the last thing they need.  Families need the money.  The GoFundMe Brian set up is immediately usable by Michael and his family.

So go.  Share.  Help out.