The Record: Friends Pitch In After Family Displaced By Fire

(Mark's Note:  Jerelle Vaughan & Tre Nicholson are both players on the Eastwood CI Senior Basketball Team).


Article By:  Dianne Wood

KITCHENER — When Shayenne McKenzie goes to sleep at night, she can still hear her brother’s voice yelling, “Fire! Fire! Fire!’’

It was just seven days ago that she and her family escaped their burning home on Southill Drive in Kitchener.

Her brother, Jerelle Vaughan, had fallen asleep on a couch in the basement while doing homework. He became hot during the night and kicked off his blanket. It landed on a gas fireplace and ignited.

Jerelle woke his other brother, Tre Nicholson, who was sleeping in a basement bedroom. He then ran upstairs to wake his mother, Elizabeth Burrell, and Shayenne.

The family escaped, barefoot, in shorts, sweatpants and T-shirts. One of the boys remembered their puppy, Dolce, and their mother went back in to get her. She grabbed the dachshund and her car keys and headed for the side door, but was beaten back by smoke. Burrell then ran to her bedroom.

She punched out the window screen and dove out the back window, yelling so her children at the front of the house would hear her.

“Hearing my mom scream like that was really terrifying,’’ Shayenne said Thursday at Sunnyside Senior Public School, where two classmates have started a gift-card fundraiser for the family.

Donations of money, household items and clothes for the boys are also being accepted by the Edelweiss Trust Fund, which helps needy families.

Claire Fergusson and Abigael Martin organized the gift-card fundraiser. People have already given cards from such stores as Canadian Tire and Walmart, along with prepaid VISA cards.

“I’ve been good friends with Shayenne for a long time,’’ Fergusson said. “Me and Abbi were, like, really sad. We had a sleepover on the weekend and were talking about things we could do.’’

Shayenne is grateful.

“I’m so appreciative just to know people actually do care about us and are worried about us,’’ she said.
The family is staying with an aunt while they assess the damage and figure out what to do.

Fire officials estimated damage to the bungalow at $200,000 and to the contents at $50,000. The contents were not insured.

“We’re pretty much comfortable right now,’’ Burrell said. “We just have to figure out where to go from here.’’

She managed to grab a few clothes after the fire and spent a day at the laundromat washing them.

Everything in the basement was lost. The boys will need beds, mattresses and dressers. The furniture upstairs was badly smoke damaged. Burrell doesn’t yet know if anything can be salvaged.

After the holidays, she will take stock.

“So many people are reaching out to us and offering us things,’’ she said. “The two girls (at Sunnyside) are absolutely awesome.’’

Her boss at the Grill Restaurant in Waterloo gave her coats, clothes and shoes for her boys. Her girlfriends provided socks and blankets.

Burrell says they made it out with the most important thing.

“We all got out with our lives and no one got seriously hurt. I didn’t have to bury anyone,’’ she said.

Donations or cheques for the family can be made payable to The Edelweiss Trust Fund (a trust account at the TD Bank) and given to Lorne Miller (519-748-021) at the Edelweiss or to David Fedy at the McCarter Grespan law firm, 675 Riverbend Dr. in Kitchener.

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