Fire victims looking for work, shelter
Auburn resident sets up donation account
Where do you go when your apartment burns down, both vehicles go up in flames and all you have left is what you have on? That’s the situation that Kim and Randy Rankin found themselves in when fire destroyed the Garnet Way fourplex in the Auburn Greens subdivision last week. Randy Rankin, a new construction plumber by trade, last worked in October 2007. His wife Kim hopes to get hired by Best Buy, where she recently interviewed. If that does not happen, she’s relying on her software skills to land her an office job in the area. With all of their savings gone, the couple visited the Placer County Department of Health and Human Services to find out what their options are. They found they could get a one-time offer of $830 to pay for the first month’s rent for an apartment. In order to qualify, Randy Rankin said you can’t have more than $50. “We were told there was emergency housing, but none exists,” Randy Rankin said after visiting the Department of Health and Human Services. The Red Cross was available to put up fire victims in a local motel, but only for three nights. The fire displaced at least 10 Auburn Greens residents. The couple’s 1978 El Camino, in the process of being restored, and a 1998 Mitsubishi were both totaled by the fire. With only liability insurance on both vehicles, they were not able to receive any reimbursement from their insurance company. “Housing and wheels are our greatest needs,” Kim Rankin said. “If it wasn’t for Dotti (Dorothy Flanagan) I’d still be standing there.” Dorothy McAvoy Flanagan, who lives in a neighborhood off Bell Road, offered to let the Rankins stay temporarily at her place in a recreational vehicle. Flanagan met the Rankins during a karaoke session at Lou La Bonte’s Restaurant on Lincoln Way and has known them for about five years. Randy Rankin put up her Christmas tree lights as part of his Handy Randy’s general maintenance and repair business. “I was a new construction plumber, but lost all of my tools in the fire,” Randy Rankin said. Despite his loss, he said he is willing to work. His business card lists experience in plumbing, electrical and irrigation. “I try to do everything like I was doing it for myself,” he said Even though the Rankins lost all of their material possessions in the fire, their cat Artie survived, and they found him Monday. “We found the cat sitting on top of the burned out El Camino waiting to come home,” Randy Rankin said. “He’s an inside cat and there are some tough cats out there.” When it comes to helping out the Rankins, Marianne Swishly and Kim Brown, co-owners of the Brown Bag catering business in Downtown Auburn, have taken on the responsibility of fielding phone calls for any individual, group or business, which wishes to help out. The Randy and Kim Rankin Fire Victim Account has been set up at Bank of the West on Lincoln Way in Auburn and is accepting donations for the couple. “I just felt in my heart that I wanted to do this,” Brown said. “I’m just grateful that I have a business here in Auburn.” The Journal’s Bruce Warren can be reached at brucew@goldcountrymedia.com, or comment at AuburnJournal.com. _______________________________
What: Randy and Kim Rankin Fire Victim Account Where: Bank of the West, Lincoln Way, Auburn Contact: Kim Brown or Marianne Swishly, (530) 888-6065 Handy Randy’s: For repairs call (530) 368-2520
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Its nice that Dorothy McAvoy Flanagan reached out, what a nice person, but i was trying to figure out how these people were living with no jobs..
That is nice of Dorothy to lend a hand.
I am just wondering why Randy hasn't worked since Oct. 2007. That's a huge hole in the story I would love to have filled.
Quote: "Randy Rankin put up her Christmas tree lights as part of his Handy Randy’s general maintenance and repair business."
Sounds to me like he was doing whatever jobs he could get like so many other out of work new construction contractors. The foreclosure crisis in CA has caused many contractors to lose work, and since he was running a handy man service his tools would be pretty important. I wish this couple good luck in putting their lives back together, and hope nothing like this ever happens to you Auburnite/Auburnite8.
It's amazing to me how judgmental and mean most of these comments are on any given story. I guess there's just some really bored folks who take every opportunity to bash another human being, no matter what hardships they might be experiencing. Sad.
GOOD FOR YOU DOROTHY!! We need more people like that.. I hope everything works out.
Thank You Dorothy!
If more people were like you we wouldn't have half the problems we do...
By the way Auburnite8 and Auburnite, I have seen his ad Handy Randy in the Trader and Journal. Looks like he was looking for work. So down on there luck individuals have to be second guessed? I have a good job and make decent money, but with the economy the way it is the corportation I work for is considering selling. That could mean I lose my job. WE ARE ALL A PAYCHECK AWAY FROM UNEMPLOYED.
Ok.. So how many of us can afford to skip our coffee's on the way to work for the rest of the week? I know how many people look at these stories and if 20% of us gave $10 bucks which equals 2 may 3 days of coffee at starbucks then this family can begin to rebuild. I plan on calling Randy this evening and will be dropping off my coffee money for the rest of this week and all of next week. Lets stop talking about how people can be helped and pull together and help them. If 100 people in Auburn gave 10 bucks that pays for a cheap truck and maybe some tools. His phone number is in the story. But just in case here it is (530) 368-2520 . I do not know these people but I know having a part in helping them will be much more rewarding than a few cups of coffee... Lets be human and help others not just talk about doing it.