HELP OUR STORY CONTINUE...

When our house was destroyed by fire on November 21st, people said, "At least no one died, and you can replace 'things'". But the reality is, a part of us did die. And every day we spend trying to be strong, pretending that because we have homeowners' insurance, everything will be ok, someone tells us it's not. Each day, we try to take it one step at a time. We waited for a rental property to become available, and we stayed strong, keeping our dog and daughters feeling safe

What do you consider a good neighbor? And why do we continue to ignore the elephant in the room??? A good neighbor will check on you if they hear you are ill, or just maybe need an extra hand at shoveling snow. A good neighbor will lend a hand when your house burns down. They will mend your broken fence to keep intruders out, they will let us know when the other neighbor is coming by to add lighting to the church because people are squatting again inside. They will pick up pa

During these past several weeks, we have found out some things that just make my head want to explode! But today, we are going to be thankful for the good things. On Tuesday, we met with our contractor, all the subcontractors, and the process, though slow, given all the logistics, has finally begun! We are excited to be able to work with D&S Contractors - thanks to so many who offered their help when we first lost our home to the fire. With the community's support (and our ve

While I lie awake in the middle of the night, there is so much going through my head. Questions I need to ask when I meet with people who are still open to meeting with me - and the best way to make a change in our community. I ask myself why several people have faded away and no longer feel that they want to talk about the issues in town, and how we can help make changes. Are they just too busy all of a sudden, or is it possible they are fearful of the repercussions? I am af

So I was going to write about what I'm learning about the sober houses in town, but some recent things have come up that I think are important for people to understand. Last week at the Borough Council meeting, Council did NOT support the variances Mr. Lingo wanted to present to the Zoning Board on February 25, 2026. The variances requested by the owner of the church property would allow the construction of townhomes at the corner of Chestnut & N Hanover St. Here is the Mer

So it's been a bit of a week as we dig deeper into some of the concerns in our community. Despite some sad realities, we love our community for many reasons. We loved our house, and though the rebuilding will never be exactly what it was, knowing we'll likely have windows that keep the cold out will be pretty amazing. We may even save on not having to cover them with plastic once we move back in! We've started to request several RIGHT TO KNOW forms. 1) RTK the fire report on

These last few weeks have been a bit trying, to say the least. On Friday, January 9th, we went back to the house to see if we could recover anything from our basement. Most had been under three feet of water - water that came from above and not from the ground up. The pictures we took don't begin to express the pain of seeing all your years and the beauty of our 130-year-old home in shambles. No walls separating the rooms, dust, and bags of items that will be in a dump somew

Help us regain a safe community together... The holidays are over, and it is time we get back to work. 2026 will be the year our family experiences many changes. The goal of this website is to bring our neighbors, friends, and community together, to get answers, and to create real change. We hope you will help. In the early morning hours of November 21, 2025, I was awakened by my oldest, who told me someone was screaming outside: "The church is on fire!" We want to talk to y