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Brian Kroeger didn't forget about renter's insurance.
"I thought about it," says the 28-year-old musician with local metal rockers City Never Sleeps, who was able to carry his guitars, an amplifier and a 42-inch HD television to safety before fire gutted most of his first-floor apartment a few doors down from Marsolais.
Still, "I lost a lot," Kroeger says, adding, "I thought about getting renter's insurance, but I never got around to it. You don't think it'll happen to you.
"I'm going to get it now," he insists.
Especially now that Kroeger has moved to another apartment in Park Jefferson.
"Not by choice," Kroeger says, "by situation."
Leasing agent Stephanie Nicklas says Park Jefferson is offering fire victims "one month's free rent" if they relocate to another available unit in Park Jefferson, or at Castle Point -- Park Jefferson's sister apartment complex.
Or, victims can opt out of their current lease and get their deposit back should they decide to relocate elsewhere.
Marsolais has moved in with her mother, Mary Beth -- who rushed to the scene Friday morning, threw a blanket on her shivering daughter and whisked her away as firefighters fought the raging inferno.
Tuesday afternoon, Sara and Mary Beth Marsolais returned to Park Jefferson and stood in front of the burned-out rubble of Sara's old corner apartment -- one of 24 units destroyed in Friday's fire -- looking for anything that wasn't too charred to look familiar.
"That's my bedroom," Sara says, pointing toward the burned-out building that just last week overlooked the entrance into the complex across Jefferson from the 32nd Street corner.
"Everything I'm wearing has been donated," she says.
A pair of gray pants, a black jacket and black strapped pumps appear to fit Marsolais perfectly.
"I dug these out of mom's basement," Sara says of the shoes. "The straps are held together by paper clips."
Inside Park Jefferson's rental office, clothing, kitchenware and other donated items sit in piles in the lobby for victims to sort through and take whatever is needed.
Nicklas says the room is now too filled up with items to accept any more donations.
Good Samaritans who still wish to help out can take their donations to St. Vincent dePaul Society Thrift Store at Ironwood and Indiana 23, Nicklas suggests.
Meanwhile, word reached Marsolais that a neighbor across Jefferson from Friday's fire scene found a cat matching Pinky's description.
"He's a big fluffy soft cat, white with orange spots," Marsolais says.
Pinky, she adds, also has an identification tattoo inside his left ear.
"I just want to know whether he made it out alive," Marsolais says, "and that he's OK, safe and being taken care of.
"I love him very much, but considering the circumstances, if he could make another family happy, that would make me happy, too."
Circumstances. Fire destroyed everything Marsolais owned, but circumstances dictate that she still has a life to live.
"You can't wallow in your own self-pity," Marsolais says with a smile. "There's no point to it. No good comes from it. You have to stay positive.
"I didn't get out with much, but I got out with myself."
"I thought about it," says the 28-year-old musician with local metal rockers City Never Sleeps, who was able to carry his guitars, an amplifier and a 42-inch HD television to safety before fire gutted most of his first-floor apartment a few doors down from Marsolais.
"I'm going to get it now," he insists.
Especially now that Kroeger has moved to another apartment in Park Jefferson.
"Not by choice," Kroeger says, "by situation."
Leasing agent Stephanie Nicklas says Park Jefferson is offering fire victims "one month's free rent" if they relocate to another available unit in Park Jefferson, or at Castle Point -- Park Jefferson's sister apartment complex.
Or, victims can opt out of their current lease and get their deposit back should they decide to relocate elsewhere.
Marsolais has moved in with her mother, Mary Beth -- who rushed to the scene Friday morning, threw a blanket on her shivering daughter and whisked her away as firefighters fought the raging inferno.
Tuesday afternoon, Sara and Mary Beth Marsolais returned to Park Jefferson and stood in front of the burned-out rubble of Sara's old corner apartment -- one of 24 units destroyed in Friday's fire -- looking for anything that wasn't too charred to look familiar.
"That's my bedroom," Sara says, pointing toward the burned-out building that just last week overlooked the entrance into the complex across Jefferson from the 32nd Street corner.
"Everything I'm wearing has been donated," she says.
A pair of gray pants, a black jacket and black strapped pumps appear to fit Marsolais perfectly.
"I dug these out of mom's basement," Sara says of the shoes. "The straps are held together by paper clips."
Inside Park Jefferson's rental office, clothing, kitchenware and other donated items sit in piles in the lobby for victims to sort through and take whatever is needed.
Nicklas says the room is now too filled up with items to accept any more donations.
Good Samaritans who still wish to help out can take their donations to St. Vincent dePaul Society Thrift Store at Ironwood and Indiana 23, Nicklas suggests.
Meanwhile, word reached Marsolais that a neighbor across Jefferson from Friday's fire scene found a cat matching Pinky's description.
"He's a big fluffy soft cat, white with orange spots," Marsolais says.
Pinky, she adds, also has an identification tattoo inside his left ear.
"I just want to know whether he made it out alive," Marsolais says, "and that he's OK, safe and being taken care of.
"I love him very much, but considering the circumstances, if he could make another family happy, that would make me happy, too."
Circumstances. Fire destroyed everything Marsolais owned, but circumstances dictate that she still has a life to live.
"You can't wallow in your own self-pity," Marsolais says with a smile. "There's no point to it. No good comes from it. You have to stay positive.
"I didn't get out with much, but I got out with myself."