Amber Mitchell and her family are getting settled back in their home after a fire on January 11, 2017, shook up their world.

Mitchell’s husband, children and brother were all asleep in the home they share in Lucas, Iowa, on the night of the fire. The sound of the family’s barking dog woke her up around 1:00 a.m.

She remembered hearing her brother coughing in his room upstairs and realized there was smoke in the room. Mitchell’s husband, Tye, discovered a breaker had blown. The family escaped their home safely and called the fire department.

Firefighters worked until nearly 3:30 a.m. to find the source of the fire and put it out. The fire department also had to shut off the electricity. The Mitchells were left with a hole in the outside wall of their home and damage in a bedroom upstairs.

The family relocated to a hotel where they stayed for the next three nights. Mitchell contacted the American Red Cross the next day. Financial assistance from the Red Cross helped the Mitchells pay for their hotel stay, as well as buy new clothing and food.

Without help from the Red Cross, Mitchell doesn’t think they would have been able to stay at the hotel.

“We didn’t really have anywhere else to go,” Mitchell said. “Our relatives don’t have extra room for us.”

Mitchell said the extra money helped her family because her husband is the sole income earner of the household while she is a stay-at-home mom.

“I’m thankful for how generous and kind the volunteers were,” Mitchell said. “I’m also grateful for how fast-paced everything went.”