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View Full Version : Help for a friend??



Nancy Laird
09-25-2007, 10:17 PM
Hello, all. I'm asking for help for some friends in need.

Joe and Lora Chandler, owners of Pioneer Woodworks in Portales, NM, lost their entire shop in a fire on Thursday, September 20. Here's a link to the newspaper article abouit the fire.

http://www.pntonline.com/news/portales_11587___article.html/family_blaze.html (http://www.pntonline.com/news/portal...ily_blaze.html)

If any of you know of any tools or equipment that may be available to Joe and Lora, please let me know by e-mail or PM and we can work out something to get those things to them. They have received a couple of table saws, an edge sander, and his spindle boring machine is salvagable, but they need a wide-belt sander, and other machines and tools.

If you can help, please let me know.

Thanks,

Nancy (87 days)

Steve Clardy
09-26-2007, 1:43 PM
Bump..............:)

Brian Weick
09-26-2007, 1:47 PM
Hi Nance,
Your hyperlink shows a 404 error- this is the address http://www.pntonline.com/news/portales_11587___article.html/family_blaze.html , yes I do feel so bad for their loss, However ~ No Insurance on the building ?- that's not good - including the machinery? :confused: I know the insurance can get quite expensive but when you have that type of operation you can't afford not to have it- this is a case in point. You may want to have a place to make donations to help them - either monetary or equipment- but a location-i.e. WEB space. I don't know, nor have I ever had to set up something like this up- i don't know the legal aspect either- See what you can come up with - I would make a small donation, monetarily to help them , but you have to have a place to do that and know that your donation is going out to help the family business and not something else.
Sincerely,
Brian

Nancy Laird
09-26-2007, 3:17 PM
Steve, thank you for bumping this. Brian, we are in process of trying to set up an account right now for Joe and Lora. I'll post when I have the particulars.

Nancy (86 days)

Nancy Laird
09-27-2007, 10:12 AM
Below is the text of an e-mail I received from Lora Chandler this morning, which might answer some of your questions:

"Below is a post I placed on Woodweb yesterday after getting some emails about why we didn't have insurance and also some negative comments about whether we should even try to rebuild since we probably don't know how to run a business anyway. I know I don't have to answer things like that, but I thought your friends on the forums you have contacted might have similar questions. If you would like to post this message from me on the forums you are a member of, please do. It's up to you. Here it is:
Our fire was caused by lightning. We had two direct hits between our office area and the paint booth. We don't know exactly how it began. We only know the hits must have exploded something very close to flammable material because the fire traveled very very fast. The fire departments in our entire county responded within 5 minutes, but all they could do was control the burn. I know you are all wondering about why we didn't have insurance and how stupid we must be to let that happen. But, I can only tell you that for twenty years, we had insurance and never had a claim. Last February, Joe had to have surgery and before he left the hospital ten days later, he had four surgeries due to complications from the first one. It has been a long and very difficult recovery. He is doing better, but this situation came on the heels of one of our major customers telling us they were moving their furniture interests and purchasing to China and would no longer be buying furniture from us. This was a blow to our sales that we are still in the process of trying to overcome. Our expenses were still high while our income was suddenly/immediately significantly lower. Our ability to keep our cash flow stable during this past year has been nonexistent. We had to lay off some employees and reduce our spending to the bare bones and that included insurance for which the premiums were too high to pay and we couldn't borrow the money. We prayed we wouldn't have a fire and we have been so careful to observe safety measures in order to prevent the possibility of a fire; but our prayers were not answered and a fire occurred through no mistakes or fault of our own. There is so much more to this story, but I don't have the energy to tell it all. We are living with chaos and it will be that way until cleanup is finished. We are trying to go forward, trying to find hope and each person who encourages us with a kind word, a prayer, or five dollars is an angel in my opinion. Thank you to all who have posted concern. We are deeply grateful. Joe and Lora Chandler; Chad and Shannon Chandler; and all employees of Pioneer Woodworkers, Inc. Portales, NM"

Just in case there were any questions.

Nancy (85 days)

Nancy Laird
09-27-2007, 7:12 PM
We have set up a donation account for Joe and Lora, and here's the information:

First Community Bank - Portales, NM
Joe or Lora Chandler Donation Account
Account #0003246051
Bank Routing #107001452

Any help you can give these folks will be appreciated.

Thank you all.

Nancy (85 days)

Darren Ford
09-28-2007, 10:21 AM
Do you have a mailing address for Joe and Lora ? PM please if you don't want to post it here. Thanks.

Nancy Laird
09-28-2007, 1:51 PM
PM sent, Darren.

Nancy (84 days)

Nancy Laird
10-02-2007, 3:13 PM
I'm bumping this again for the sake of those who might not have seen it first time around. Joe and Lora are slowing getting things cleaned up and have found another building to use temporarily until they can rebuild their shop. David and I are going to Portales this weekend to help with what we can, take some stuff Joe ordered from the store, and provide some moral support.

Thank you all for your help.

Nancy (80 days)