The community has come through for a Cobourg man burned out of his apartment in August.
Cobourg firefighters were dispatched to a fire in a apartment on Spencer Street East on August 21.
When they arrived smoke was coming out a open window and soot on the windows and blinds indicated a large amount of heat was inside the basement apartment.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, but the unit sustained heavy smoke and fire damage.
David lived in the unit but wasn’t home at the time.
He lost everything. He only had the clothes on his back. Coupled with that – he had no insurance.
Corey Evans lives in apartment building across the street and saw all the firetrucks on the street.
Evans soon found out that David had lost everything and wanted to do something about it.
She put a call out through social media for anything to get him on his feet again.
Evans took David to the garage that has housed all of the donations and he was left speechless.
“It’s overwhelming – very overwhelming,” David said as he sorted through the belongings with Evans.
A tv, clothes, blankets, towels, furniture, gift cards – he’s all set.
“It’s more than I ever had before,” he said with a smile from ear to ear.
David said he’s extremely grateful to Evans and the community for all the help and donations.
“I had so much help from the group page that I run and it came together within a week – they just stepped right up.”
“I knew the community was great, but this just blew my mind.”
At this point David’s apartment has yet to be repaired and he’s staying at his parents house.
David said one message he would like to share with others in apartments is to make sure they have insurance because you never know when you’ll need it.
“(The future) looked bleak before. But it looks a lot better now.”
The cause of the fire is believed to have started in a laundry basket in the bedroom.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
