HILLSBORO, Mo. – A Hillsboro family lost almost everything they own when their house caught fire last Friday. But what they haven’t lost is hope and support from their community, which is not letting them go this alone.
"This is our living room right here and our bedroom upstairs,” explained Bobby Bonnarens, as we walked around the outside of his house. “I was able to get out of the downstairs bedroom over here to the right."
He remembered well what it took to escape from inside one of the bedrooms. He was able to get his two sons and his father-in-law out safely too.
"I pull up and it's fully going,” said Bonnaren’s wife, Katie O’Neal. “I wanted to drop to my knees and just say, ‘I give up,’ but I can’t for my kids. I have to be strong so that they can be strong.”
Most all of Bonnaren and O’Neal’s precious mementos were gone.
“I lost my little sister's blanket. It was my life,” explained O’Neal. “She passed away three years ago, so it was very sentimental to me."
Little did the family know, that the Sisters in Spirit were watching over them.
“These are just a few of the things I picked up yesterday,” said Ariana Patterson, as she sifted through several bags of donations. Patterson is the co-founder of Sisters in Spirit, an organization that helps women and children affected by violence.
"So, trying to come up with clothes, household items, that's something that we can do,” Patterson said.
Patterson and the Sisters in Spirit are collecting clothing and household items at the De Soto Community Center at 400 Boyd Street.
The list of needs includes:
- 2xl shirts jackets
- Jeans 38-40w and 30 length
- Tennis shoes - 61/2 to size 7
- Work boots and tennis shoes size 9w
- Clothing for newborn 0-3 months or 3m to 6m boys clothes
- Anything for a 1-yr-old boy and a 3-yr-old-boy
- Anything for a 6-year-old girl
“We gotta keep going for the kids' sake,” O’Neal said. “To make them feel that there is something in this world that we have to live for."
Saucy’s Pizzeria in Hillsboro is hosting a fundraiser on May 3. Ten percent of the proceeds will be donated to the family.
