A young local family is in shock and deeply saddened by the sudden total loss of their Denair home on Thanksgiving Eve.
Laura Long, an assistant principal at Wakefield Elementary in Turlock, and her husband Jeff were out of town visiting family with their four small children, ages 7 years, 5 years, 3 years, and 8 months old, when they received a phone call every family dreads- their home was on fire.
According to family friend Brooke Bettencourt, a teacher at Pitman High School, the call came from the Denair Fire Department after a neighbor discovered the blaze Thanksgiving Eve night. A short time later Turlock Fire Department called to tell them the house was a total loss, but they were able to save some photos and few other small items, including a small doll house Laura’s father made for his grandchildren.
Bettencourt says the home was built for Laura's family in the late 1970s, and Laura grew up in the home and was now raising her four children in the home.
“This could have happened to anybody and it’s sad it happened to such a wonderful family,” said Bettencourt. “Laura and Jeff are both kind of being hit by the shock of it right now.”
Bettencourt has established a GoFundMe page to help the Long family. The goal on the page is to raise $10,000 for them and in just 18 hours the community has already donated $2,815 as 4 p.m. Saturday. Bettencourt says a friend of the Long family has offered them a place to stay in the interim. Besides monetary donations, the family is in need of girls clothing sizes 7 or 8, 13 or 1, and size 8 shoes, boys sizes 6, 7, 12 to 18 months and size 11 shoes. They can use them right away.
The family basically lost everything, including appliances, toys, cribs, beds, decor, photos, adult clothes, anything that would fill a home. To make a donation contact family friend Laura Brem at 209-648-1550.
To make a monetary donation visit, http://www.gofundme.com/hydhhc.
