Marine Veteran's Family Of 5 Loses Everything In Fire

WAUKESHA COUNTY, WI — A Waukesha family of five lost all of their possessions when a fire destroyed their home just a few days before Christmas.

According to the Lisbon Fire Department, a fire occurred at N79 W24734 Plainview Road over the weekend. The Jeske family was not at home at the time.

Relative Beth Anne wrote on Facebook that the family is devastated.

"My little brother and his family lost everything in a house fire - 2 days before Christmas. His family is safe, my nieces are okay," Beth Anne wrote in a Facebook post over the weekend. "Everything is gone. Eddie might be my little brother, but he’s my hero. He’s a veteran who served in Afghanistan as a corpsman for the Marines. He works incredibly hard to provide for his family."

"If you can help his family with anything please do! They are overwhelmed and in disbelief — honestly it’s surreal," Beth Anne wrote. "But they are going to need so much in the next few months and are going to be flooded with paperwork and figuring out what comes next, if we can relieve some of the burden and make sure they have less to worry about, that would be a huge help."

How To Help

Acting Lt. Jessica Engel-Butzlaff of the Lisbon Fire Department will be the point of contact and collecting donations Monday at Richmond Fire Station:

• N54 W26455 Lisbon Road
• Pewaukee WI 53072
• 262-538-3902

You can also donate directly to the Jeske Family Fire Relief Fund

The Merton Community Fire Department is assisting with getting the family through the holiday season.

"This was a home to a family of 5, including 3 little girls, now without a home, no toys for Christmas, no clothes. Thank God they at least have each other. I have been asked to be the point of contact for the Lisbon Fire Department. Please contact me if you would be willing to give any donations and I will see to it that they get to Merton Fire Department's Chaplain Schrock as I have been in contact with him and he has been in contact with the family," Engel-Butzlaff said.

"Please consider donating, this family lost everything. I am on call tomorrow night and will be at the Lisbon Fire Department Richmond station. You can also call, text, or email. The girls love Frozen, stuffed animals, board games, and books," she wrote.

The family has three girls: 7, 4 and 2. Clothes sizes are as follows:
7-year-old girl: size 7 for tops, 6x for pants, and 12 shoes
4-year-old girl: size 4 for tops and pants, size 9 in shoes
2-year-old girl: 2T for clothes, and size 7 for shoes