HARRISON TOWNSHIP — Forty people are not sleeping in their own beds tonight after a fire tore through their apartment complex in Harrison Township.
News Center 7 previously covered the 3-alarm fire that destroyed parts of the complex and left dozens displaced and one injured Saturday evening.
>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 1 taken to hospital, 40 displaced after large apartment fire in Harrison Twp.
Now two people who lived near the fire are doing what they can to help out.
Marsha Farmer lives in the condos next to the Meadows of Catalpa, she is thinking of all those affected.
“I got up this morning I ran over here and I started praying for them, and the money I had in my purse I just started giving it out, saying if this gets you gas money to go find your place,” Farmer said.
Farmer spent most of her Sunday going through what happened so close to home just the night before.
“I left about 6′o clock to go to dinner and then I guess my phone just started ringing, ‘are you okay? are you okay?’ she recalled.
That’s when she drove back to her apartment and saw the chaos.
“We just sat out front and we just started ministering and started praying,” she said.
>> PHOTOS: Multiple agencies called to apartment fire in Harrison Twp.
A few hours later she and her son Marcellus were at dinner reflecting on what happened.
Marcellus said his mother had a feeling she had to help.
“She felt intrigued to turn down the street and to see exactly what was going on and if there was anything that we could do. We wanted to talk to the building manager because we have some finances from our church that we would like to donate and be a blessing to those that are in need,” he said.
He said he has been preaching since he was 2 years old.
>> PHOTOS: Apartment complex partially destroyed by Harrison Twp. fire
“It’s been my life’s ministry to just help those in need, those who are without and partially at this present time,” Marcellus said. “There’s only so much that the Red Cross can do. So we as a community should come together and we as a church, a Black church at that, should come together to help the community.”
Marsha shared ways other people can help as she and her son did.
“Get in touch with the building manager and donate. Donate money more than anything… they don’t have resources to put themselves up their state of mind is very fragile at this point,” she said.
Battalion Chief Dave Nangle said fire officials are still trying to figure out the cause of the fire and how much it’s going to cost to fix it.