Community, church reaches out to family who lost house in fire

Church and community members are helping the family get back on their feet.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- A township family is seeing the true meaning of giving after recently losing all their possessions in a weekend fire.
Most members of the Dennison family at 1650 Harding Avenue were sound asleep at 7:30 a.m. Sunday when one family member awoke to find smoke filling the house. The rest of the family was awakened just in time to crawl out of the burning structure.
Liberty Fire Chief Michael Durkin said firefighters reached the house within three minutes but were still too late to save the house. He said the house has several additions to it, built with material that can spread a fire pretty quickly.
"The family just woke up to smoke in the house and smoke alarms going off. By the time we got there it was really going with fire coming out of the windows on three sides of the house and had already reached the garage," he said.
The home was destroyed with damage estimated at 100,000.
There were five members of the family from three generations living in the house. They are now staying with other relatives.
Outpouring of help
After the fire, homeowner Anna Dennison, a longtime member of the community and member of New Life Christian Fellowship Church, immediately found out how giving those in her church and community can be.
Dennison said members of the Liberty church went to work immediately collecting clothes and raising funds for the family. Three church members have also offered the family a place to stay.
"The support from the church and everybody has been phenomenal. We were at the house and a lady we don't even know stopped and gave us a donation," she said.
The church will not be the only members of the community helping the Dennison family get back on their feet. Carol Faustino, Liberty Historical Society, said the historical society will do what it can for the family.
Faustino described the Dennisons as a giving family who recently suffered the loss of a family member, loss of a vehicle, which decreased the family income and now the fire that took almost all their remaining possessions.
"This is the nicest couple you would ever want to meet, and they have had so much sadness," she said. "They are always looking to help other people; even now if you asked them to do something, they would do it."
Fundraiser planned
The historical society will meet with the family Wednesday to make a donation of 500. There will also be a fundraiser for them in January.
"[The 500] will be spending money for right now so they can get some personal things," Faustino said. "We have our annual dinner in January, and that will be a fundraiser for them."
Dennison said she still has a lot for which to be thankful. She said her Bibles, family photos and wedding dress were all spared in the fire.
The fire, she explains, must somehow be in the plan of God.
"The Lord has a reason for everything he does and we don't always know what it is right away," she said.
jgoodwin@vindy.com