Friend of displaced family hopes for help from local community

By Ashley Dunn
News Editor
LAND O’ LAKES — On Sept. 22, a Land O’ Lakes family lost all of their possessions in a house fire. Now, family friend Karen Skoglund is hoping the community will rally together to donate necessary items.
“This family is in need of anything,” Skoglund wrote in an e-mail to everyone on her contacts list. “If you need to clean out closets or are getting rid of items you no longer need, please consider contacting me. I am willing to collect items and deliver them to the family.”
The family, who Skoglund did not want to name, includes four kids — a 12-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy, a 7-year old boy and their parents.
Skoglund said one of the family’s top needs is clothing, including:
— Boys sizes L and XL, and 6 to 7, or 8 to 10
— Girls sizes L or 14-16
— Men’s sizes 42 waist pants and XL shirts
“I am working on getting Mom to give me her sizes; but like most Moms I know, she is only worried about her kids and husband,” Skoglund wrote in the e-mail. “They are very much in shock and can’t believe that all their material possessions are gone. They are very thankful that they all got out, including their pets, unharmed.”
Skoglund said the family’s insurance company has put them up in a house in the same Land O’ Lakes neighborhood where they lived.
Skoglund, a stay-at-home mom with four kids, said she has known the family for years. Her daughter is in girl scouts with the 10-year-old. The troop has set up a savings account for those who would like to donate money to the family.
She said she couldn’t imagine herself in the same situation.
“It’s so hard,” she said. “I really don’t know what I would do. Who do you turn to but your community and your friends?”
To donate or for more information, call Skoglund at (813) 968-4975 (home) or (813) 230-0442 (cell).