Volunteers, store aid fire victims

“What they’re doing is beyond my expectations. I thought they would throw some paint on the walls, maybe a rug on the floor and a light fixture.” Kathy Watts Blount, fire victim

HOLDEN -- Kathy Watts Blount received an early Christmas present when volunteers from Home Depot and the Ginger Ford Northshore Fuller Center for Housing showed up to provide a home for her and her family after a recent tragedy.

On Nov. 16, Blount and her family, including her husband, Ronnie, and her two sons, B.J. and Michael Watts, lost all of their possessions and their home when their mobile home was destroyed by fire.

As Blount left the mobile home that morning to pick kumquats from her tree, she saw smoke then heard a loud explosion. Blount, who said she had just passed her son Michael Watts, 27, in the hallway before she stepped outside, knew he was in trouble.

Although she knew the mobile home was on fire, Blount said she went back inside to get her son, who by this time had pushed an air conditioner from a window and broken the glass to escape.

“My only thought was him,” Blount said. When he heard his mother calling for him, Michael Blount yelled to his mother that he had escaped. She then ran from the mobile home to tend to her son, who was bleeding from cuts to his hands.

Ronnie Blount and B.J. Watts, 28, were hunting at the time of the fire.

After the fire, the family took residence in an unfinished, 600-square-foot cabin on their property, sleeping in the kitchen and the living room.

“The cabin was vacant,” said Tamara Danel, of the Fuller Center. “The family was sleeping in the kitchen and the living room. They didn’t have proper electricity or plumbing.”

“It’s been like camping out,” Blount said.

Realizing the family was now living in an unfinished cabin without electricity, their neighbor, Charlene Bryant, called area Home Depot stores and agencies for help.

After receiving a call from Bryant, the Ginger Ford Northshore Fuller Center for Housing partnered with the Home Depot Foundation to build a comfortable home for the family for the holidays. Home Depot managers made a list of everything they would need to make the cabin livable, and on Dec. 14 and Dec. 15, more than 25 volunteers from two Home Depot stores teamed up to complete the unfinished cabin with wallboard, new flooring and paint in just two days.

As Blount watched from underneath a small canopy set up in the yard, volunteers worked feverishly against time as rain began to come down.

“It makes you feel good that you’re helping someone out in their time of need,” said Elaine Wheat, Covington Home Depot employee and project volunteer . She and her husband, Ellery Wheat, continued to work in the rain to get the home finished.

Blount said she was waiting until the volunteers were finished with their work before wandering inside because she wanted to be surprised.

“They say it’s going to be beautiful,” Blount said as she watched the fast progress.

Friday marked one month since the family lost their home.

“Tomorrow is one month; I lost everything and then I gained everything,” Blount said.

While she admits the event was tragic, Blount said she believes the incident happened for a reason.

“To bring people together and to bring God to more people,” Blount said.

While waiting for the cabin to be finished, Blount thought about ways to thank her neighbor. And while she is on a limited income, Blount said, she will think of something.

“When it comes to Ms. Charlene, she is the sweetest person in the world,” Blount said. “I want to do something special for her. She’s the one who organized all of this.”

She said she also plans to cook jambalaya for the volunteer crew once she gets back on her feet.

“What they’re doing is beyond my expectations,” Blount said. “I thought they would throw some paint on the walls, maybe a rug on the floor and a light fixture.”

In addition to the many new amenities, volunteers added a handicap ramp to the home for Blount, who is disabled, and a flower bed to the side of the home.

As she talked about that harrowing day, Blount talked about the items she lost in the fire. As she noted sentimental items, things she had collected over the years, Blount quickly paused and said how grateful she was that her son made it out of the fire alive. “There was a lot of memories in there but once my baby got out, the rest became memories in my heart.”

Anyone interested in helping the Blount family may contact the Fuller Center at [phone], or send a donation to The Ginger Ford Northshore Fuller Center for Housing, attention: The Blount Family, P.O. Box 96, Hammond, LA 70404.