Yesterday Sterling Books editor Alyssa Smith lost everything in an apartment fire. To help her friend, Publishers Weekly editor Rose Fox has set up a PayPal site to collect donations from the publishing community.
Follow this link to donate. Here’s more from Fox: “Today while she was at work, [Smith] got a call from her landlord saying that her house was on fire. By the time she got home, there was nothing left. Literally, nothing. Her beloved pet birds, her family heirlooms, her books and clothes and furniture and brand new iPad, all gone. Her roommate likewise lost everything.”
Fox concluded: “Red Cross is putting her up in a hotel. She thinks that will last about a week. After that, she’s going to couch-surf until she figures out whether she wants to wait three months for her old place to be renovated or try to find a new home. Until she’s settled, she doesn’t need donations of stuff. What she needs is money so she can keep herself afloat for the next couple of months and eventually replace some of the things that were destroyed. She does have a job and income, but she’ll need to take time off work to deal with all of this.” (Via Colleen Lindsay)