BELMONT — The couple that lost their home, most of their animals, and all their belongings in a devastating fire on Thanksgiving Day are receiving help from friends, neighbors, and complete strangers as they struggle to put their lives back together.
“The response has been amazing,” said Rheannon Fee, a neighbor of Larry and Ann-Marie Carpenter.
The Carpenters' 200-plus-year-old home was destroyed in a five-alarm fire that also leveled two attached buildings where farm equipment, a collection of antique boat motors and a menagerie of farm animals were housed.
Most of the animals died in the fire, but those that were rescued have all found new homes or temporary housing, including 20 chickens, Fee said Tuesday.
Monetary donations continue to come in to the GoFundMe page that Fee set up last Friday. To date, about $3,600 in donations have come in, with the largest single amount so far being $500. The fundraising goal is $20,000, but Fee expected that a higher goal will be set.
People also have been donating clothes, cooking and eating utensils and dog food for the Carpenters’ two dogs who survived the fire.
Fee said other people have come forward to offer to help the couple to build a new, but smaller home on the property at 722 Province Road (Route 107).
“It won’t be like what they had, but at least they will be able to go back and live where they have lived for so long,” Fee said.
The Carpenters had lived there since the 1970s, according to Deputy Fire Chief Mike Newhall.
Fee said some people have volunteered to help with the cleanup of the property. Others have said they would do excavation and other work to prepare the site for the construction of a new home. She said some of the monetary donations would be used to pay for materials needed to get the work done.
Meanwhile, the Carpenters have been able to move temporarily into a vacant house in Laconia that is owned by one of their friends. How long they will be able to stay there is uncertain, as the house is for sale, Fee said.
Plans are in the works for special fundraising events, including a spaghetti supper and a night of entertainment featuring a live band. Fee said the details for those events still need to be worked out.
The GoFundMe page is https://www.gofundme.com/npeud-help-a-friend-recover-from-a-fire.
(1) comment
Why no home insurance?
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