Local outreach program helping Pine Hill residents displaced by fire
PINE HILL, N.J. (CBS) -- Some families forced out after a two-alarm apartment fire over the weekend say they're still having problems rebuilding their lives.
Pine Hill residents stood outside of their burned apartment building and tried to figure out their next move after losing everything.
"From here, where do we go?" Bobby Williams said. "What else do we do?"
Flames swarmed one of the buildings at Mansion Apartments on West Branch Avenue last Friday.
Investigators say an improperly discarded cigarette caused the fire.
The roof is caved in and the walls collapsed which left the apartments exposed.
"That was home, you know, everybody else gets to go back home," Tianna Ward said. "You know, people are coming out here riding around, phones out, pointing, smiling, laughing, you know this is our lives."
"The most part are the kids," Marquesta Batchelor said. "They are the ones that suffering. They are, they really are ."
The Red Cross says they assisted 12 families, a total of 30 people and provided monetary donations for immediate needs, like lodging food and clothing.
Now, Tom Peculski from the Helping Hands Outreach Program is teaming up with other local outreach organizations to continue the help them moving forward.
They are doing their best to help the families get through, but they rely solely on donations.
"When something like this happens," Peculski said, "we all come together, put our resources together because we all know in doing outreach that this could be any one of us."
Rebuilding their lives won't be easy, the charred frame a painful reminder of the rough journey ahead.
"You know people tell you, you will get it back, it's material, you got your family," Williams said, "but it's like one minute you are so comfortable in your zone and the next minute you're leaning on family, leaning on others and trying to make it to a next day now."
CBS Philadelphia did reach out to the management company, and we have not heard back.
If you would like to donate, you can visit the Helping Hands Outreach Program's Facebook page.
