Members of a New Brunswick community are coming together to help a farmer who lost his home and belongings in a devastating fire last month.
“I got a phone call saying ‘your house is on fire’ and my neighbour, a volunteer firefighter, said ‘don’t you dare open that door. It could blow up on you,’ so I never saved a thing. It all went up in smoke,” says Hermal Duguay.
The Stanley man’s home was destroyed in mere minutes on March 19 and the Red Cross responded quickly.
When the organization discovered that Duguay had no insurance, it contacted Big Hearts Small City, a non-profit that helps people without insurance find living arrangements – usually an apartment – after a fire.
“But his situation was he’s a 60-year-old farmer that has to stay on his farm to look after his animals,” says Jason Surette of Big Hearts Small City.
Thankfully, the community of Stanley has come together to ensure Duguay can stay put.
“Within just over a month’s time, we went from no donations to actually enough donations to help him build a brand new 20 x 20-foot house,” says Surette.
The donations included plumbing and heating materials, as well as plywood, a complete kitchen and its installation.
“We need to do more of that,” says Andy Bubar of Kitchen Creations Inc. “This gentleman lost everything and he’s been very active in the Stanley area.”
The frame of the house and its roof are expected to be up by mid-week.
“They figure by the middle of May they’ll all be moved in, which is unbelievable,” says Duguay.
“You know, the neighbours are good but you don’t realize until something like this happens how good they really are.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore
