Sun Prairie fire leaves family homeless, community steps up to help

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) -A Sun Prairie family is starting over after a fire destroyed their home and the community is pitching in to give them some relief.

A day like any other took a tragic turn Friday.

“I was cooking dinner, and I got a phone call from my daughters that they were in an accident near the interstate,” Latoya Love, who lost her home to a fire said.

Love panicked and rushed out the door to reach her kids.

“By hearing my kids were in an accident, I left the stove on,” she said.

By the time she remembered, flames filled her house.

“I was happy everyone made it out okay, but it was the thought of everything we had was inside the house,” she said.

The fire caused $80,000 worth of damage. Her belongings turned to ashes. This was another hardship after battling depression following her mom’s death.

“That’s why it’s even harder because if something like that would have happened, I would have been with my mom instead of here. So it’s just really hard,” Love said.

“Once I met the family and after I heard all these great things about these kids from these teachers, you could just tell they are loved,” Michael Johnson, Boys & Girl Club of Dane County CEO said.

Johnson heard about the family’s story from the Sun Prairie school district.

“Once she told me what happened I felt compelled to stop everything I was doing this weekend,” he said.

Johnson put the family in a hotel and took them shopping. Love said the Sunshine Place is helping with resources. Target donated clothes and shoes to the family. Metcalfe’s Market president foot the bill for a month’s worth of groceries.

”It just kind of broke my heart to think this family lost everything,” Tim Metcalfe, Metcalfe Market co-owner and president said. “Just trying to pitch in and do what we can to help a family in need during the holidays.”

It’s a chain reaction of kindness giving hope and love to the Love family.

“It’s just so overwhelming to see so much love from the community,” Love said. “The world we live in today, you just don’t see or feel a lot of love from people. It makes me feel so warm inside to see how many people reached out to my family to help.”

The Love family still has a lot of challenges ahead. Johnson set up a GoFundme to help the family that reached $5,000 as of Tuesday.

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