The Tukwila community is rallying around an extended family whose house was destroyed in a fire late Friday afternoon.
Armen Papyan, a 2015 graduate of Foster High School, and family members are now looking for permanent housing after staying in a hotel immediately after the fire.
The fire destroyed all their possession, leaving little but the clothes on their backs, according to Papyan.
“We basically need everything,” he said. “But we don’t need it right now because we don’t have anyplace to put it.”
Armen shares the house with his brother Araik, a junior at Foster, his baby brother, his mother, his grandparents and an uncle.
He has set up a gofundme account online to raise $50,000 to help the family recover from the devastating fire that left the house a total loss.
The owner of the house at 5604 S. 150th St. and one of the residents, Vladimir Yasonovich Mironyuk, 39, has been charged with first-degree arson. His arraignment is March 28 at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.
Katrina Dohn, a math coach at Cascade View Elementary School, knew Armen and Araik when she taught at Tukwila Elementary School.
“After all of this happened, I knew that Armen would be inundated with calls and texts offering to donate specific household items,” she said. But, without housing, she knew they couldn’t accept anything just yet.
“What I offered was to be a point person for all those wanting to donate,” she said. Dohn can be reached via email at katrinadohn@gmail.com.
Now she’s keeping track of offers – who offered, their contact info, and what they have to donate. Then once the family finds housing, they will have a list from which to choose what they need, she said.
“That way, people who want to donate know that their offer has been heard and not ignored, as it can often feel like when there is this type of crisis,” she said.
And there are many who are also help with the home search, she said.
She’s also hoping that the list of donations she compiling will help the eight families who were displaced temporarily or long-term in an early morning apartment fire Monday morning just off Tukwila International Boulevard.
“Tukwila is an amazing community that really steps up when there is a crisis, and I am already seeing that this time is no different,” said Dohn.
