Update: Mother, 7 Children Moving Forward After Fire Destroys Their Home
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Update: Mother, 7 Children Moving Forward After...
Last week, we brought you the story of a fire in Aiken that destroyed two homes and damaged two others. One mother and her seven children were left with nothing?no clothes, no place to sleep, no place...
Last week, we brought you the story of a fire in Aiken that destroyed two homes and damaged two others. One mother and her seven children were left with nothing…no clothes, no place to sleep, no place to live. She’s working hard now to get life back to normal….and to do it, she’s getting help from a group of strangers.
Published: October 6, 2008
Updated: October 6, 2008
Aiken, SC—It could happen to anyone. This time it happened to Sylvia Blocker and her family.
A fire that began in a maintenance room at their apartment, destroyed all the comforts and necessities of home…and seven children, along with their mother, moved into a hotel and waited.
Sylvia’s daughter said, “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what we’ll to next. It will just fall into place.“
Kathryn Waller, Thompson, GA: “It made me cry to see somebody in need like that, it just tore my heart up, you know?”
Across the border in Thomson, Georgia, Kathy Waller went to work, collecting items to help replace some of what the family lost. Neighbors pitched in and brought bedding, clothes and furniture.
Waller: “We’ve got trailer loads, still. This is just the beginning.“
Colleen Johnson: “Their house burned down and they lost all their stuff, that’s why people are giving them stuff.“
Waller: “They took right to it, the kids, they empathized with the other kids, so kids helping kids kind of thing, it went into play.“
More than a week later, the blocker family is still crammed into the hotel room, but Sylvia is working daily on getting a house for her children.
Sylvia Blocker: “So far they’re just going to school and saying ‘when are we going to get a house?‘ I can’t answer that. I told them I might know something today, I’m not too sure.“
But when it happens, neighbors she’s never met will help fill it.
Blocker: “It’s just going to be hard to thank everybody, names and everything!“
This time, there are smiles and some new hope for a new home.
Blocker: “It’s a lot of stuff a lot of stuff, and I know it’s not materialistic they say, but I put my all into that and I felt proud of myself for a little while, but now. It’s coming back, I guess you could say.“
Coming back with hard work and family support….and extra support from strangers.
Mt. Transfiguration Baptist Church in North Augusta has been helping to organize donation efforts. You can reach the church at (803) 278-4051.
Kathy Waller is accepting donations at the storage shed in Thomson. She can be reached at (706) 590-2224.
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