Roxanne Vandewater, a waitress at Joey’s in Sackville, N.B., watched her livelihood go up in flames last week as fire destroyed the restaurant where she’d worked for almost 14 years.
“It was just devastating. I didn’t think the whole building was going to go down,” she said in an interview on Friday.
Vandewater lives in an apartment building across from the restaurant, and watched the fire from her window.
The smoke engulfed part of Sackville’s downtown, and several fire departments were called in to fight the blaze.
A pile of rubble is all that remains of the restaurant, and Vandewater is concerned about how she will pay her bills while looking for her next job.
Mount Allison University student Chloe Jackson lives in the same apartment building as Vandewater.
“I talked to her a few days after the fire,” Jackson said. “She was quite upset and just explained the stuff she was going through.”
Inspired by an online fundraiser set up to help students displaced by the fire, Jackson decided to start one for Vandewater.
“I thought it would be good to ensure she had at least a few months rent to ensure her housing was secure,” Jackson said.
The fundraiser quickly surpassed it’s $3,000 goal, with Sackville residents donating over $5,000.
Dianne Oulton was one of the contributors to the fundraiser.
Vandewater would serve her and her Rotary group at Joey’s each Thursday morning.
“She really looked after us and we love her,” Oulton said.
Vandewater is hopeful she will find a new job soon, but said the money was a big help in ensuring her bills would get paid in the meantime, as EI premiums would be insufficient to cover the costs.
“It’s very overwhelming and I appreciate everything from the bottom of my heart,” she said.
Global News reached out to Joey’s management and the Sackville Fire Department on Friday for comment.
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