Community rallies to rebuild Cape Breton man’s home destroyed by fire over holidays

Nothing remains on the site of Sheldon Taylor’s home in L'Ardoise, N.S.

"She was in flames," Taylor said of the night he lost his home. "They called me. It was on fire."

The 63-year-old said he was in the woods trapping coyotes a few nights after Christmas when he got the call telling him his home was burning down.

"Everything," Taylor said of what he lost. "I saved quite a bit down below, but upstairs I couldn't save nothing."

"Sheldon is known by everybody in this community and all the other communities. He's just the type of fellow who would never hurt anybody, and would do anything for anybody if he can," said Charlie Martell, who owns a construction company in the area.

The contractor took to social media looking to drum up help for Taylor's cause and before long, he had what he needed to start planning a rebuild of the man's home.

"I didn't mind donating to build the house, if we could get the materials donated," Martell said. "And soon, within 10 or 15 minutes of me putting a post on (social media), all the contractors were calling and jumping on board. Everyone was interested, and within a matter of 24-to-48 hours, we had the whole house for him."

For the time being, Taylor is staying at an inn down the road in St. Peters. The hope is he will be in his new home on his property before winter is over.

"If everything runs smooth, we're going to start next week and in five-to-seven weeks he should be in," Martell said.

Taylor says people have donated clothes to replace the ones he lost. A GoFundMe has been set up, and an account has been created at the local Credit Union where people can make donations.

While he's looking forward to having a permanent roof over his head in the near future, Taylor says there's one thing he has to do right now.

"To thank everybody," he said.

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