A new community is stepping in to help after a kitchen fire claimed the home of Lethbridge native Ashley Vinet, her husband Eric, and their four children five days ago in Searsville, N.B.
Vinet’s sister and mother, Shalane Hebert, still call Lethbridge home.
Hebert said it’s been incredibly tough being so far away from her daughter.
“The first thing we wanted to do was just bring them home,” she said. “Make the kids feel like everything was going to be OK…Cook…You know, just take care of them.”
The family of six moved to New Brunswick last year.
They’re now staying with friends and say the overall support from their new community has been evident since the fire broke out.
“They didn’t have a lot to do with the community, you know what I mean? It’s not like they were well-known or anything like that,” Hebert said. “These are strangers and they were there in a heartbeat–and they’ve been there every day since.”
“They have lots of people that are around them, taking good care of them,” said Ashley’s sister, Taylor Bakos. “All the people in Bellow Creek have been amazing–and Kings County–and it’s been really nice to see.”
The house is insured by the landlord, but the family did not have tenants’ insurance.
They lost many of their most precious belongings, including their family dog, but know it could have been much worse.
Bakos started a GoFundMe page to help the family and hopes to hit its $20,000 goal.