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Friends, strangers raise thousands for family after house fire

Facing a devastating loss, it only took a few hours for friends and strangers to mobilize and help.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY - A south St. Louis County family escaped a house fire with only the clothes on their back.

Facing a devastating loss, it only took a few hours for friends and strangers to mobilize and help.

Early Sunday morning, Janet Thomas heard her smoke alarm sounding. She and her husband ran downstairs, and saw smoke coming from the basement of their Oakville home. The couple and their daughter and the family dog all ran outside to escape the flames.

The family watched from the street as their house and most of their possessions inside burned to the ground. Family members and firefighters aren't sure what caused the fire.

Although they are devastated, the Thomas family is grateful everyone is OK.

“I feel like that's just stuff,” Janet said. “Stuff can be replaced. We got our family, we have each other.”

It didn't take long for help to follow.

The Thomas family lived at that home for more than 25 years. When neighbors realized what happened, they quickly brought them inside, out of the cold. Others in the neighborhood stopped by to drop off clothes, food, or other donations. One friend did several loads of laundry. Another is storing items the family could recover from the burned home. Several loved ones belong to Oak Bridge Church and asked members there to offer prayers and support.

Perhaps most inspiring is how quickly and online fundraiser for the Thomas family reached its goal, and continues to climb.

“I love them. They are great people,” said Shannon Iverson, Janet's niece. “I just wanted to be able to help them in anyway I could.”

At first, Iverson wanted to raise $10,000 for the Thomas family. Donations from friends and strangers quickly reached that amount, and have topped $15,000.

Iverson said she is not surprised.

“[The Thomas family] are amazing people. There are still really good people in this world that want to help.”

To learn more about the GoFundMe page, visit the link:

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