A Newfane-based restaurant has organized a fundraiser for a local family that was affected by a house fire last week.
A GoFundMe page established by The Brookside’s owner Bethany Sears and her family has so far raised more than $15,000 to help two Brookside employees who lost their home in a fire on Dec. 6 in the village of Wilson. James and Megan McKernan, who is Sears’ sister, lived at the house with their four children.
“The house fire took everything except for the clothes on their back. The fire could not have come at a worse time for this family with the holidays around the corner,” Sears’ daughter Kennedy said on the GoFundMe post.
Fire crews rescued the family’s dog from the otherwise unoccupied house as they were fighting the blaze. Their cat, which had originally been unaccounted for, was found by the family at the home the next day.
In addition to the GoFundMe page, Sears said the restaurant has been fielding donations of clothing, furniture, toys and Christmas decorations from customers and other local business owners.
“The generosity of this community is unbelievable and Megan, James, myself and our family have been brought to tears over the kindness and willingness to help,” Sears said in a Facebook post.
Within hours of the original post going up someone had reached out the restaurant and offered a place for the McKernans to stay until they get back on their feet.
“They called me here at the restaurant and it was people she had gone to school with,” Sears told the Union-Sun & Journal. “They offered to rent the house to them and put their flipping project on hold. Hopefully (the family) will be in there by next weekend.”
To make a donation through the GoFundMe page, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/c2tpyp-family-in-need-after-devastating-house-fire. Items for the family can also be donated at The Brookside Restaurant, 2990 Lockport-Olcott Road.