(Friday, March 19, 2010): One week after resettling into their refurbished home, the Burt and Pennyfeather family of Sandy Point continue to receive assistance from the community.
Today the family who lost all their personal belongings and two siblings in a fire on February 13, received two major pieces of appliance courtesy fellow Sandy Pointer and Businessman A. U Brown, owner of Kyss102.5fm based in Sandy Point and First Class located at Port Zante.
Brown personally delivered the items, a brand new 10 cubic feet premium refrigerator and a 1.3 cubic feet sensor microwave to the family shortly after clearing custom. He reached out to the family days after the fatal fire and offered to help them replace some of the personal items “so they could regain some sense of normalcy, though genuine normalcy may take a long time, considering the fact two lives were lost in the inferno,” Brown said, adding that “while we can replace the material things, no one will ever be able to replace their most significant lost, that of the two children that perished that dreadful night.”
Ms. Gwyneth Pennyfeather who accepted the items on behalf of her family expressed her profound gratitude to the businessman for his thoughtfulness and generous . The government through the ministry of finance was also thanked by Mr. Brown for waiving all import related taxes on the items.
Almost one year ago Brown lost a Suzuki Grand Vitara jeep in a fire, suspected to have been set be arsonist. He said that experience in part cemented his decision to help this large family in a very tangible way. “I felt moved to assist them after learning of the number of people (20) that were affected by this tragedy as well, but being a victim of a fire last April in which I lost a vehicle and suffered damage to my home really hastened my decision to help. While my property was fully insured it doesn’t lessen the feelings of lost and so I can relate to how the Burts and Pennyfeathers felt losing all their possessions and are still grieving over the two deaths of their love ones. So in some respects I felt their pain and reaching out was easy and hope that others would come forward and give whatever they can to this family.”
The Sandy Point base Community Empowerment and Personal Improvement Organization and Miss Cyndie Demming were the first to mobilize support for the family, by opening a bank account at national bank, two days after the fire and encouraged businesses and individuals to deposit contributions into it. They also arranged for businesses to donate building materials and supplies to help rebuild the home. Four contractors from Sandy Point donated time and man power to refurbish the damaged house. The group also made an appearance on Kyss102.5fm to appeal for further assistance when contributions to the relief effort appeared to have ceased. As a result of those and other initiatives the family was returned to their home on Thursday, March 11.
