A soon-to-be family of four is out in the cold ever since a fire destroyed their home in Lachine September 30.
What makes matters worse is that the family had no insurance. Their son’s daycare educator was so touched by the tragedy, she decided to step in and help.
“He was screaming ‘no police don’t take my toys, no firefighters don’t take my toys’ and to see them taking everything out of his apartment must have been really traumatic for him,” said Danielle Crevier from Garderie Nouveau Monde de Lachine.
The family was on their way home from the daycare with their two-year-old Yassine when they saw their apartment engulfed in flames.
It took 120 firefighters two hours to control the blaze that destroyed four businesses and five apartments, leaving a dozen people homeless.
“I was crying, I was screaming because we lost everything,” said a 32-week-pregnant Fadoua Regregui.
“It’s like a nightmare” said her husband Younes Joud. “Yassine keeps asking to go back home and I keep telling him it’s finished.”
The family had just set up the baby’s room and bought brand new furniture and appliances when the fire hit.
For some reason, they had no idea they needed insurance.
“We didn’t know about insurance, even the landlord never spoke about that,” said Regregui who assume it was covered in the rent.
The couple immigrated from Morocco four years ago and had just accumulated enough belongings to consider themselves comfortable.
“We have to start from zero again,” said Joud.
Yassine’s parents are worried about him. Their son has lost his appetite and joie de vivre.
“He was really upset and I think it was hard for him to understand what was going on,” said Crevier, who decided to step in and help by creating a GoFundMe page.
“Yassine has such a light in him, he has such a sparkle in his eyes and is so full of life and I didn’t want something like this to hurt that or to take away from him growing up, especially with having the new baby come,” said Crevier.
Parents from the daycare have been very generous and Crevier hopes Montrealers at large will follow suit and consider donating to help put Yassine’s growing family back on their feet.
The family is currently staying at a hotel in Sherbrooke and desperately waiting for the City of Montreal to help relocate them closer to Lachine.
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