The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Town lends a hand to local family
Christmas gifts, clothing lost in overnight house fire
WINSTED — The community is coming together for a local family in need.
Winchester Schools Superintendent Melony M. Brady-Shanley on Friday morning posted a message to Facebook asking if people could help out.
“I'm hopeful that we can pull together as a community in a very quick way,” she wrote. “We had a family that had a house fire last night in Winsted. They lost most of their clothing and the little girl lost her Christmas presents.” The family has a 7-year-old girl who wears a size 7/8 in clothing and a size 13 in shoes, Brady-Shanley said in her Facebook post. The family could also use women’s size 8 pants and size medium shirts and men’s size large clothing.
“Any toys for a little girl would be much appreciated,” Brady Shanley said. “Thank you very much for your generosity during this most meaningful time of the year.”
“I'm hopeful that we can pull together as a community in a very quick way. Winchester Schools Superintendent Melony M. Brady-Shanley
Toys, clothing and monetary donations were collected at Batcheller School until Friday afternoon. But early afternoon Friday, local residents started asking on social media how they could
help the family if they couldn’t make it to the school, and how to keep helping them over the weekend.
So The Little Red Barn Brewers posted its own Facebook message Friday afternoon saying it would also accept donations for the family at its pop-up store at
32 Lake St. Donations of cash, clothes and toys could be be dropped off there Friday evening and then again from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, staff said in the post. They also said they would donate 10 percent of all “swag sales” to the family.
“Let’s all band together and help this family in need
this holiday season,” the post said.
The fire happened overnight in a single-family home on Florence Street. There were no injuries reported in the fire, and the American Red Cross responded to assist the family with necessities, according to a release.