PINE LAWN, Mo. – A Pine Lawn family is devastated after losing everything in a house fire just days before Christmas.
The top floor is now boarded up where flames broke out in the 3700 block of Manola Ave. around 3 p.m. Dec. 8. Within minutes, the whole home was filled with fire and smoke, leaving heavy damage for a single mother and her two children.
“It’s very overwhelming right now, trying to figure out day-by-day what we are going to do and where we are going to go,” mother Desiree Arnold said. “We lost a lot of material things, but we did not lose each other so we are praising God for that.”
Arnold was attending her 16-year-old son’s basketball game when the house caught on fire.
Community leaders, including the NAACP, say they are doing their part to help the victims try to find housing and provide for their Christmas.
“During the holiday season, everybody is trying to enjoy the festivities, and a tragedy like this occurs…it’s important for us as a community to understand the need to step up,” NAACP St. Louis County President John Bowman said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The family has a GoFundMe set up to rebuild their lives. To donate, click here.
“It’s been uplifting in my community—having people in the community that have put me in touch with resources—it’s built my faith with God,” Arnold said.