RALLY TO REBUILD
GOLD Coast single mum Stacy Gardner and sons Joshua (left) and Harrison D’Jekic were left homeless two weeks ago when their Coomera Waters house burned to the ground.
On the weekend, she was moved to tears as the community turned out to help kickstart the rebuild.
THE northern Gold Coast has rallied to rebuild a single mum’s home after she lost everything in a house fire.
Stacy Gardner and her sons, 11 and 15, were left homeless after a car fire spread to their Coomera Waters home two weeks ago.
It is still unknown how the blaze started mid-morning, with the car sitting unused in the garage overnight.
“It took about 10 minutes for my garage to be completely gone, you could see the flames running up the sides of the car and then it exploded and took everything with it,” Ms Gardner said.
“We lost everything, so it has to go down to the slab.”
In just a week the locals had raised more than $14,000 for the family through a Go Fund Me page, and work on the home has already begun.
Neighbours, dubbed Stacy’s Angels, have offered construction expertise and materials to help rebuild, with working bees attracting crowds on the weekend.
Project co-ordinator Simon Flack said the community was determined to give the family a new home, but needed more skilled help.
“We’ve had companies that have come on board to offer supplies and we’re getting a lot of support from tradies around the Gold Coast,” he said. “The missing piece at the moment is we need a builder – someone with a building license who can guide us through.”
“We’re concentrating on the big things at the moment – the roofing, timbers – we’ve got most of those sorted out, but we still haven’t been able to find enough carpenters, we need tilers, carpetlayers and some kitchen gear.”
Losing the family home of seven years came as harsh blow, particularly for Ms Gardner’s sons, who also lost their dad late last year.
“They’ve been through so much in their short young lives,” she said.
Ms Gardner broke down in tears as she thanked the community for their efforts.
“On the weekend complete strangers I’ve never met before came to help out,” she said. “The kids across the road from us had been selling lemonade before it happened and they’ve now used that money to buy a kettle and a toaster for us which is just so humbling and so special.
“The Coomera Waters community has been absolutely phenomenal.”
The boys’ school, AB Paterson College has also come to their rescue, donating new school uniforms and textbooks for the family.
To donate visit www.gofundme.com/lives-shatteredby-house-firehelp-us-rebuild.