UPDATE: Our neighbors pass bucket for family who lost house to fire

I am really proud of my neighbors here on the southwest side of the city of Lansing where families live in homes built during the fifties and sixties. It’s a place where kids play in each other’ yards and where residents help each other.

That pattern continued today, one day after one of our neighbors lost her house to a fire that was started in the middle of the night by an overheated laptop on the couch. She, her two children and her brother had to run from their house with only the clothes on their backs. Their family dog was lost and their cars were burned.

That’s when the neighbors kicked into action. A next door neighbor serves as a coordinator for offers of help. Another neighbor, Tracy, who lives across the street from us went door to door in the neighborhood with a bucket where neighbors were asked to throw in contributions. Five hundred dollars was collected to help the family pay expenses during the next few days.

My wife went to our church rummage sale where she picked up clothes that the kids can wear while they reorganize their lives.

At the end of the day, I’m left with a fresh appreciation of our small neighborhood and the desire of people of a mixture of racial and ethnic groups to help a neighbor in need. People do care.