Community rallies to help Thomas Campbell residents
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Thomas Campbell Apartments resident Dave Burgess selects from a tableful of food and other items that were donated to Thomas Campbell Apartments residents who lost their homes after a Dec. 23 fire. He is among the displaced residents who are staying at Suburban Extended Stay Hotel in Washington.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Thomas Campbell Apartments resident Dave Burgess selects from a tableful of food and other items that were donated to Thomas Campbell Apartments residents who lost their homes after a Dec. 23 fire. He is among the displaced residents who are staying at Suburban Extended Stay Hotel in Washington.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The Washington County community has stepped up to help residents of Thomas Campbell Apartments who were displaced after a Dec. 23 fire.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Sherry Huddleston is among the more than 30 residents of Thomas Campbell Apartments who is residing temporarily at Suburban Extended Stay Hotel in Washington after a Dec. 23 fire that killed one resident and injured five others.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Thomas Campbell Apartments resident Roger Boardley, a Vietnam War veteran, is residing in Suburban Extended Stay Hotel following a Dec. 23 fire that damaged his apartment.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Bobby Kendall, left, looks at clothing donated for displaced residents of Thomas Campbell Apartments following a Dec. 23 fire, as Suburban Extended Stay Hotel manager Teresa Godwin folds a clothing item that was dropped off.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Bobby Kendall, left, looks at clothing donated for displaced residents of Thomas Campbell Apartments following a Dec. 23 fire, as Suburban Extended Stay Hotel manager Teresa Godwin folds a clothing item that was dropped off.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
In this file photo from Dec. 30, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel Manager Teresa Godwin folds a sweater that was donated for Thomas Campbell Apartments residents who were displaced following the Dec. 23 fire that killed one woman and left five injured.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Thomas Campbell Apartments residents, from left, Bobby Kendall, Mable Cross, and Roger Boardley, are residing at Suburban Extended Stay Hotel after a Dec. 23 fire that killed one woman and injured five others forced them out of their homes. The trio said the tragedy has left them closer than ever, and they are grateful for how area agencies and the community has rallied to help them.
In the days since a fire ripped through the Thomas Campbell Apartments in South Strabane Township, Washington County agencies and community members have rallied around the residents who were displaced.
Residents in some 56 units were forced out of their homes after the fire broke out in the early hours of Dec. 23, killing one woman and injuring five others.
Crews have begun to rebuild the damaged apartments, but there is no timetable for when residents can return.
“Everybody has been great to us, we can’t say enough good things about them. I got out with three pants and I lost a lot,” said Mable Cross, a resident who lost most of her belongings in her fifth-floor apartment. “I’m just going to have to start over again, but I’ll be all right.”
In the moments immediately following the fire, the American Red Cross assisted residents by providing lodging at Suburban Extended Stay Hotel in Canton Township.
By the next day, other agencies stepped in to coordinate assistance ranging from providing food, arranging transportation to and from medical appointments, procuring prescriptions and eye glasses, and providing clothing and emotional support.
“I’m incredibly impressed with Washington County. I’m really proud of the agencies and the whole community, and what everybody has done,” said Mike Blessel, recovery coordinator for the Red Cross. “People looked to see what gaps there were and then filled them.”
At the Suburban Hotel Thursday afternoon, the lobby was filled with food and clothing donations, and workers from several Washington County agencies were on hand to help relocated residents with services, including helping them sign up for financial rental assistance.
Several Thomas Campbell residents chatted in the lobby and outdoors while eating hamburgers and French fries that had been delivered.
Roger Boardley, whose apartment was on the sixth floor – where the fire broke out – said he was just getting ready to go to sleep when he heard the fire alarms.
“I grabbed my jogging shorts, a pair of slippers and a T-shirt, got dressed, and when I looked out the door, the kitchen was fully engulfed,” said Boardley, a Vietnam War veteran. “By the time I walked 8 or 10 feet, fire was coming out (a friend’s) apartment door, it was roaring. I was scared I wasn’t going to make, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. It actually singed a bit of my beard.”
Boardley grabbed his camera and escaped down a stairwell, and he said a neighbor who used a walker told him she was going to wait on the floor.
“I told her to get out, and she got out,” he recalled.
Many of the residents of the apartment complex are elderly or disabled. Thomas Campbell Apartments offer affordable housing for seniors and currently houses 225 residents in 124 units. There are one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as a few efficiencies. Donation drop-off areas have been set up at Suburban Hotel, 975 Sheffield St., Washington, and the Salvation Army at 60 E. Maiden St., Washington.
Teresa Godwin, general manager of Suburban Hotel, said the community has pulled together to help the displaced residents.
“We absolutely love having them here. They’re a great group of people. To see the community rally around them has been incredibly heartwarming,” said Godwin. “When they first got here, everyone was confused and upset, but now their nerves are a little bit calmer, they’re getting into a bit of a routine and thinking, ‘Hey, everything is going to be OK.’ It’s really heartbreaking to see so many displaced at Christmastime, and we’re doing everything we possibly can for them.
“It’s been a huge community effort, and to see the generosity of everyone in the county and in the community,” she added, “it’s been overwhelming and wonderful to see.”
Sherry Huddleston, whose apartment also was damaged in the fire, said she is grateful for the help she has gotten.
“This hasn’t been easy; I lost my home. But the Red Cross and management here has done a wonderful job,” said Huddleston. “I feel secure here. It’s been stressful, but everyone has been so helpful. The Department of Aging got me some reading glasses, so at least I can read now, and I can do my crossword puzzles. Crossword puzzles are my thing.”
Michelle Manni, assistant director of Aging Services of Washington County, said her agency will continue to work with Thomas Campbell residents as they wait for their apartments to be rebuilt. She noted the agency has worked with Washington County Behavioral Health and Developmental Services “to provide support for the residents who are dealing with this traumatic event.”
“It’s the whole community, too, that’s coming together,” said Manni, who said during a recent visit to the hotel, individuals dropped of fruit, milk and other items they had picked up while at the grocery store. “For as bad of an experience as it has been for these residents to go through, it’s been, in a way, as good an experience seeing how all the agencies and people have come together. Kindness goes a long way.”
Godwin said donations of food, laundry detergent, vinegar – which eliminates the odor of smoke – have poured in. Residents have also received quarters for washing machines and dryers, and clothing has been donated as well.
Currently, an estimated 33 Thomas Campbell residents remain at Suburban, while 23 others are staying with family or friends.
On Wednesday, about 30 additional residents were forced to stay at the hotel overnight after a smoke detector connected to the sixth-floor elevators failed an inspection. That issue has since been resolved, and those residents moved back to the apartment building Thursday.
Dr. Arthur Keys, president of the board of directors at Thomas Campbell Apartments, was overwhelmed at the outpouring of support.
“The first thing to say is thank you. Everybody has really pulled together and been supportive, from the South Strabane Fire Department and authorities who did a fantastic job of extinguishing the fire and getting people out, to the Red Cross and the other agencies that have helped. And we’re appreciative of the support of the community,” said Keys.
Despite the support, residents acknowledge that it’s been a hard time.
“We’re in a fog, I’m in a fog,” said Boardley. “I know I’m going to get through it, but this is terrible.”
Cross said the fire has brought many of the survivors closer together.
“It’s drawn us all closer together. We were always close up there and helped each other, and that’s what we’re doing now,” she said.
Boardley echoed Cross’s thoughts.
“This is my family,” he said. “The people who have helped us are my heroes without a cape. We want to get back home, we’re ready to get back home.”
Among the Washington County agencies that have helped are the Salvation Army, Southwestern Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging, Washington County Department of Human Services, Aging Services of Washington County, Washington County Veterans Affairs, Blueprints, Washington County Behavioral Health and Development Services, Food Helpers and Freedom Transit.
Monetary donations can be made to Thomas Campbell Apartments Activity Fund, Thomas Campbell Apartments, 850 Beech St., Washington, Pa., 15301.