Community raises over $40K for Chaska family who lost everything in fire
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MINNEAPOLIS, MN (WCCO) — A Twin Cities family of five lost everything in a fire over the weekend, but a hockey community has stepped up to help.
The fire happened at a home on Nightingale Court in Chaska. Neighbor Billy Way saw a haze out the front window before his neighbors were at his door, shoeless, fleeing from a fire that ripped through their home within minutes.
“The house was going really fast,” Way said. “The smoke was going everywhere and you couldn’t hardly see the playground in the street.”
Kacey Lorenzen, her husband, and three children got out OK, but they lost their family dog. Firefighters saved what they could, like old family photographs.
“Stuff doesn’t matter,” she said. “I have my family and this could have been so different that night.”
Within hours, a parent who knows the family through hockey started a fundraiser.
“They are very into hockey and they’re a fantastic family,” Laura Allen, from Chanhassen, said.
In less than 20 hours, the Chan-Chaska hockey community had raised over $40,000.
“I was in amazement,” Allen said. “This community is incredible, it brings me to tears just thinking about it.”
Parents also dropped off food and blankets at their neighbor’s home.
“They’d be leading this charge if the shoe was on the other foot,” Way said.
It’s a glimmer of hope for the Minnesota hockey family during a difficult time.
“The last 24 hours have been the worst of our lives, but I went to bed last night with a full heart,” Lorenzen said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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