Thoughts and Prayers with Darcy Burner

21st Century Democrats' endorsed candidate Darcy Burner experienced a personal tragedy yesterday. A faulty lamp in her son's bedroom caused a fire that completely destroyed her home and all the contents. Thankfully, Darcy, her husband, her son and the dog were able to make it to safety. Rather unfortunately, her cat perished in the fire.

Darcy has a statement on with more details and asking folks that want to help to direct it "toward your local humane society or animal shelter in memory of Charlotte [her cat], or to the Washington State Council of Firefighters Benevolent Fund."

You can be assured that our thoughts and prayers are with the Burner family at this time. But for me, this is more personal. The Washington 8th is my "home" district. My wife's family has been living in that district for 25 years. For 2 years right after university, I lived in that district and my old district has been underserved by Mrs. Burner's opponent. The current Congressman has consistently towed the line with the dreadful Bush administration. We need a change in the Washington 8th.

Darcy will obviously need to take care of her family and personal life in the near future. Therefore the progressives of Washington State and especially the Washington 8th need to step up to move the message of change forward. I would encourage everyone who is in the area to sign up to volunteer!

UPDATED:Both the DailyKos and MyDD have frontpaged articles relating to Darcy's house burning down. They have issued challenges to help her raise $400,000 on ActBlue. And people are responding!

UPDATED AGAIN: Someone has created a HelpDarcy website with simple ways you can help her and her campaign.