Dallas community helps victims rebuild lives after apartment explosion

Nineteen apartment units were destroyed in the Dallas explosion that claimed the lives of three people.  

While the community is still reeling from that loss, Dallas is coming together to help the victims rebuild their lives.  

For Cecilia Balderas Rodriguez, the circumstances carry a heavier weight. She said in Spanish that she was at work when she heard an explosion. That's when a friend called her and said her apartment was on fire.  

Rodriguez said she could only think of the children, the safety of the kids who lived in the building, while her life, and the lives of her neighbors, were turned to ash.

It's a situation that Daniel Roby and Austin Street Center are trying to rectify immediately.

"What we've been working with the city of Dallas and the office of emergency management and trying to make sure that all the non-profits are teed up so that after the immediate crisis is resolved, that we have ongoing support for these over 19 families that are now essentially homeless," said Roby.

On Monday, Rodriguez and others signed leases and moved into new apartments.

"Gracias a todos," said Rodriguez. 

Austin Street Center has raised $80,000 so far to cover six months of housing costs for everyone affected by Thursday's fire, but they are still $40,000 short of what they need to do that. They're asking for help and donations.