On Wednesday, Jan. 24th, tragedy struck for freshmen Coal Stafford’s family. While at church,  Stafford’s family of eight learned that their house had burned to the ground shortly after their backyard pool pump caught on fire. The house was ruined, but all family members were able to safely escape. The only life loss from the fire was the family’s long time dog Sadie.

Senior Jonathan Morris took action to help his close family friends by creating a GoFundMe account. Morris encouraged the local school and community to support the family throughout a rough time. To date, the GoFundMe has raised over 16,000 dollars for the Stafford family.

“It was honestly so overwhelming to see how much the community has raised for us,” Stafford said. “I never would have imagined that we would have received so much help.”

The Staffords are heavily involved with a local church which encouraged the congregation to raise 5,600 dollars for the family. In addition to the funds raised, the community has donated gift cards and clothes, while Red Cross has stepped in and covered housing costs for sixth months. The Safford’s were able to find a rental home which will fit all eight family members, and they plan  on moving in within the first few weeks of February. The money that was raised will stretch a long way,but the unification of the community following this tragedy will have an everlasting impact.

“I’m surprised how quickly the money was raised,” Morris said. “We raised 5,000 within the first five hours and 10,000 within the first 48 hours. I hope that this campaign can serve Coal and his family well.”

At first glance, this tragedy seemed all but good. However, with a tremendous amount of love and support, the Stafford family has been able to experience greatness. Instead of focusing on the loss, the Stafford family is choosing to move forward and hone in on the lessons that can be learned from this heartache.

“My family has been able to learn how to adapt and appreciate everything that we have,” Stafford said. “Almost everyone got out unharmed and we were able to save the most important things such as wedding rings,birth certificates, social security cards and the ashes of family members.”