Adopt a Stocking: Family forged by fire starts new life

LIMA — “Starting over” can mean many things, whether it is taking a new job, starting a new relationship or moving to a new community. For Charlotte, starting over means building a new life from the ground up with next to no possessions to her name.

The beginning of Charlotte’s story is one that is all too familiar in this area: grow up here in Lima, move away to go to college, find a job and begin a new life in a bigger city. That is where Charlotte found herself a little over a year ago, living in a large community with a decent job while raising her three children along with her boyfriend.

Then the fire happened.

“It was around, like, midnight,” Charlotte said. “We had just gotten back home because I had just got back from a mini vacation celebrating my birthday. I was actually sitting in my room looking at pictures from our vacation, and [the kids] were all in one room together on the other side of the house.”

The fire started in the oldest daughter’s bedroom, which was vacant at the time. Once the fire was discovered, the family was able to make it out safely, but between the damage from the fire, smoke and water damage, there were no possessions able to be salvaged.

“After the fire, we got some help from the Red Cross,” Charlotte said. “They were the first on the scene to help me out.”

What followed were months of living in hotels and other temporary arrangements, even including living in their car for a period of time. Charlotte’s boyfriend left, leaving her and her children on their own to determine their next move. With high rental prices and no support system close by, Charlotte made the decision earlier this year to come back to Lima to start again, this time closer to her family support system. Since that time, Charlotte has found a new home and a new job and now has her children, Olivia, 13; Emma, 7; and Noah, 4; in school and preschool. However, her one income means that she is now having to save a little at a time to be able to rebuild her life, even down to buying furniture or even Christmas decorations.

“We came with the clothes on our back,” she said. “We’ve got three beds and three TVs. I had a great community where my housefire was at. They pulled together and donated the beds and some other personal items. The house came with appliances like a stove and refrigerator. But I’m literally starting from scratch with everything else, like dishes and furniture.”

At this point, thinking about Christmas gifts is not even in the picture for Charlotte, but she has been thankful for how resilient her children have been given everything that has happened, and she is hopeful that they will still have a Christmas to remember.

Olivia wears size XL women’s clothing and women’s size 10 shoes. Charlotte said she loves anything “expensive looking” and loves gift cards, but she quickly followed with, “She’s a really grateful kid for whatever. She’s really been great.”

Emma wears girls’ size 14-16 clothes and children’s size 3 shoes. She is the “girly” girl who loves pink and sparkle. She also loves puzzles.

Noah wears size 5-6 clothes and size 13 shoes. He loves superheroes, especially Black Panther and Spider-man, and he also enjoys boxing, Legos and basketball.

ADOPT A STOCKING

The Adopt a Stocking Fund benefits families during the holiday season. Monetary donations can be given online at give.salvationarmy.org/stocking or via Adopt A Stocking; c/o The Salvation Army; P.O. Box 234, Lima, OH 45801. All material donations for a specific family should be dropped off at The Salvation Army, 614 E. Market St., Lima, and should include a copy of the article or the date the story appeared in The Lima News. See past stories at LimaOhio.com/tag/stocking.