Fire victims appeal for help
On Wednesday, the Guardado family lost all their possessions after a fire destroyed the house they were renting at number eleven Plues Street. It’s not the first time they have fallen victim to a fire. In 1997, they lost their home during the Prince and Albert Streets blaze. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods was with Rosa Guardado and her family, as they tried to recover what they could at the house they once called home.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The Guardado family says the past three days have been a struggle as they try to recover from the disaster. The family painfully sifted through the debris of what use to be their household possessions, but there’s nothing they can do to bring them back. Since the incident the family has been temporarily staying with friends at different locations, but say they need a place of their own.
Rosa Guardado, Fire Victim
“I need a little house or something to let my family stay and bathe and eat something you know. That is more important to me, because everybody needs to bathe and everything. The material things I think could get that back. I really feel sad because I no have nothing. I no have no place to stay, I no have money to pay or buy or pay house for rent. If you find one house for rent I no have no money.”
The family has a house under construction in Hattieville, but need help to complete the building.
Rosa Guardado
“I have a place in Hattieville and then if you can help me to finish the house then maybe I will have no problem with a house. It’s not big, but it’s enough for my family right now. But it needs some material to finish because it has nothing inside.”
Alvin Nicholson, Family Friend
“We would like if by the end of today someone that would give us a call and say here is somewhere to stay, here are some things to assist you as you work harder to rebuild and get back together as a family.”
Coincidentally, when News 5 was speaking with the family, Philip Brackett, PUP Standard Bearer for the Mesopotamia Division visited them to deliver some good news.
Philip Brackett, PUP Standard Bearer, Mesopotamia
“I can certainly assure them that we will do our up most best to provide immediate assistance. We will give them a little bit of money to buy some of the basic necessities.”
Brackett says in the meantime they will also be finding a shelter for the family and see what aid they can give them to help them finish the construction of their house in Hattieville. However, the business community is being asked to help the Guardado family replace some of the household items they lost in the fire. Reporting for News 5 Jacqueline Woods.
If you would like to assist the Guardado’s, please contact the Mesopotamia Resource Centre at the corner of West and Basra Streets or give them a call at telephone number 72809. Meanwhile, the Department of Human Development says that while they do not provide housing for fire victims, they do help by donating money. They did just that today, by providing the family with six hundred dollars.
