Neighbors help family that lost everything
By Leila Shipsey
Laura and Jason Goodman and their three young sons, ages 11, 8 and 3, were left homeless by a fire June 28 that consumed their home at 18434 Rim Rock Circle in the Lakes at Red Rock subdivision in Leesburg. In the aftermath, neighbors, classmates, co-workers, churches – even strangers -- are working to help them.
“They don't have anything now,” said Soosie Skinner, who lives in the neighboring Spring Lakes development. “Driving by the house doesn't really do it justice. ... I cried when I came home after I saw it.”
The fire caused $600,000 in damage, and the house was completely destroyed, according to Loudoun County Fire-Rescue.
“[We lost] everything ... absolutely everything,” said Laura Goodman, the mother. “... Nothing is salvageable. The house is most likely going to get bulldozed. ... All those memories of [my] babies ...”
To help the family, the Lakes at Red Rock community and Spring Lakes are pulling together efforts.
Skinner said that after seeing the charred remains of the home, she and her neighbor Peggy Tyree knew they had to do something.
So Skinner hit the pavement with her four children, ages 10, 8, 5 and 3, and with Tyree and her two boys, 9 and 3. They gathered $775 June 30. After knocking on some more doors the next day, they totaled more than $1,000.
Goodman said her neighbors at Red Rock also are putting forth a tremendous effort to help.
“We have been overwhelmingly blessed by support of friends and neighbors and surrounding communities,” Goodman said. “They didn't know us at all. It's been so surreal losing everything.”
Sola Pallotta, president of the Homeowners Association at Red Rock, said residents' e-mail inboxes have been flooded with information sent out by other neighbors coordinating efforts to help.
People have donated more than 50 bags of clothes, plus furniture and household items.
Neighbors also have donated gift cards to stores like Target and Costco and coordinated meals for the family, which Goodman said have been very helpful.
The Goodmans' next-door neighbors opened their doors to the family to stay with them, until a Realtor, who is also from the Red Rock community, was able to find them a home to rent. The home where they are staying was for sale in the neighborhood, but the owners agreed to rent it out to them.
Goodman said local churches, other subdivisions, Francis Hazel Reid Elementary School -- her sons' school -- and random strangers in stores also have offered help.
“I was buying shoes for the boys the other day and a woman came up to me and said she was losing her house -- but she hadn't lost everything [like I had], and handed me money,” Goodman said.
Skinner said they will continue to try to help the family, and she hopes a business will match community donations.
“A thousand dollars from a business, to match $1,000 we raise, may not be much to them, but it is [to the family],” she said.
Skinner said the family still needs all kinds of things.
“I asked [the mother] what kind of donations they need,” Skinner said. “She said, 'Even a blender.' They lost everything.”
To find out how to help, e-mail helpinghands@lakesatredrock.com or redrock.fire.donations@gmail.com.