Sunday, November 26, 2017

INFERNOS: A generous community

Like so many others, I was saddened by the tragic fire at Barclay Friends in West Chester. When the call went out seeking donations for the displaced residents, we headed to the Kennett Walmart and filled a cart with toiletries, towels, underwear, clothes, slippers and socks. We were about to head to the donation drop-off point in West Chester when I checked online and found out that they'd been overwhelmed with donations and had to close down early because there was nowhere to store everything. (Perhaps you saw the photographs of the stacks of donated walkers and wheelchairs.)
We went back to Walmart and returned everything. Selfishly, I was grumbling a bit because I really wanted to pitch in, but I was also pleased that the community was so generous.
Sadly enough, another chance to help out arrived just days later, and even closer to home, when a family on Dean Drive in the Cedarcroft neighborhood lost their house, possessions and dogs and cats to a quick-moving Thanksgiving night fire. The next day, a relative started an online donation site with a goal of raising $25,000. Within a day more than $32,000 had been raised, thanks to more than 450 donors.

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