FAMILY LEFT HOMELESS
Overwhelmed by generosity
The generosity shown to a Warragul woman and her five children has been overwhelming since fire destroyed their house and possessions a week ago.
The West Gippsland community has dug deep for Tina Crawford and her children, leaving the mother touched by the generosity of people she does not even know.
“It’s amazing,” is all Tina could say when Drouin Lions Club presented her with $5000 rental support on Friday.
Fire destroyed the historic late 19th century home at 81 Victoria St on Tuesday morning where Tina lived with her five children – Sharlette 13, Stephen 10, Emily 8, Royston 6, and Chantelle six months. Children and staff at the adjoining Warragul Child Care Centre were evacuated as fire fighters battled the blaze in strong easterly wind conditions.
“We are so lucky, I have my children, we are alive and we are lucky it didn’t happen at night,” Tina said.
Tina was at home with a friend, Sharlette and Chantelle when the fire started late morning.
The two women and children safely escaped the house after smelling the smoke and discovering the fire.
Tina said they were sitting in the lounge room when Sharlette said she could smell smoke.
They went looking for the source and couldn’t find anything and then the house started filling with smoke.
Tina said they called the fire brigade and left straight away, with no time to collect treasured belongings, not even her purse.
“We knew it was coming from under the house, but it went up pretty quickly and then it was gone,” she said.
Tina said she wanted to get back into the house to grab some belongings after getting her daughters out safely, but she was confused and it all happened quickly.
Photographs, some of her grandmother’s jewellery and her grandfather’s bag from World War II were amongst the precious items Tina lost in the fire.
Tina and her family had been living in the house since June 2013, moving from Queensland when her uncle and aunt Phil and Annette Harley offered it to her to rent.
Phil and Annette had lived in the house for five years but had to move to Melbourne for work commitments.
Phil said they loved the historic house and had plans to restore it to its late nineteenth century glory.
Staff at the Warragul Newsagency where Tina was a regular customer, began collecting donated items on Tuesday afternoon but quickly filled their storeroom.
Community members were then able to donate goods to local charities to help Tina.
Tina said she could not believe how people had gone out of their way to help her and the children.
She said someone had donated accommodation at the Warragul Caravan Park for two nights and then the Mercure Warragul accommodated the family for a night before they moved into a new rental property that Tina said was arranged by Harcourts in record time.
She got particularly teary when she saw a sign at Toyworld appealing for people to donate toys to her children.
“These people don’t even know me and they have all done that out of their hearts.
“The whole town has been so generous. My church group has stood by me every day.
“Everyone in Warragul and other towns has given money, gift cards, food, and furniture.
“People have taken money out of their own pockets to help me,” she said.
Tina was lost for words when Drouin Lions president Murray Gardiner said the club wanted to pay the bond and 13 weeks rental on a house for the young family.
Mr Gardiner said the club recently held its annual garden and home expo, which raised considerable money for the club to put back into the community.
He said Lions members had a meeting on Tuesday night, only hours after Tina and her family lost everything in the fire.
Mr Gardiner said some members suggested putting together a Christmas hamper, but “then we thought we could do a lot better than that.”
He said the donation, which would be about $5000 was what Lions was all about, helping people.
Murray said they never wanted to see a family go through what Tina had last week, but if they could help in some small way then it made all their fundraising work worthwhile.
Police confirmed the fire was not suspicious. The CFA confirmed the fire began under the house but investigations were continuing into the cause.