Village of Tigerton, Wis. (WFRV) – A small Shawano County community is coming together to help out three families who lost their homes when the building they live in burned down over the weekend.
Local 5 News spoke exclusively with one of the families impacted by that fire.
“He (a police officer) said that our house was up in flames and our stuff probably wasn’t going to be saved and that they’re still battling the fire,” said Genevieve Sellen, who lived in the building that burned down in the fire. “We walked up and just saw our entire life up in flames, everything we worked hard for.”
Sellen lived in the building with her family, which included her three kids. She’s one of three families who lived in the building. The downstairs portion of the building used to be a popular bar.
She said while it was devastating to watch the fire burn through the building, the willingness of the community to help her in her time of need stood out.
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“So many people came up and hugged me, getting my number, giving me their number, asking what do you think you’ll need,” Sellen said.
One of the people who approached her on the night of the fire, offering her help, was Katie Torrez.
“Something just told me to help,” said Torrez. “I saw that she had kids and that she really needed the help, so I obliged, and I just had to do it.”
Over the weekend at a community event, she was able to collect about $200 in donations, which she split between the three families. She and others in the community have also set up drop-off sites where people have donated clothes, food, and other miscellaneous items that will help the impacted families.
One of the dropoff sites is at ‘Main Street Diner’ on Cedar Street in downtown Tigerton. Sellen said when it comes to her family, the items they need most are hygiene products and diapers.
The village of Tigerton and the Salvation Army have teamed up for a donation collection as well. If you’re interested in donating, please click here. The Tigerton Fire Department posted on their Facebook that they can’t accept any more donations at their station and encourages people to donate through the village of Tigerton/Salvation Army link.
A GoFundMe has been set up to support the Sellen family. It can be found here.
“Just seeing the outpouring of compassion and kindness that this little area has to give makes me really proud that I got to live here for a short three months,” Sellen said. “I’m grateful, thankful, so blessed, they’re angels.”
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“I’m glad that there’s people out there that are willing to help and to donate,” Torrez told Local 5 News. “It’s a small community, but we all come together with something like this. This is a small town, but everybody loves each other, I’ll tell you that.”
Firefighters also say they felt the support of the community while fighting the fire.
“The community support has been great, people were bringing water, ice, bringing burgers and food out to us,” said Tigerton Fire Department captain John Hunholz. “Everybody came together in a time of need and helped out a lot. It was great.”
For more information about this fire, please click here.
