by Eric Martinez | staff writer
On Dec. 28, teacher Gabriel Oviedo’s home caught on fire. Oviedo and his family escaped the fire safely without any injuries. Still, most of the items and furniture within the house were destroyed or ruined.
“It was an electrical fire that spread to the attic and ignited all the installation. So it just spread very quickly and then destroyed everything,” Oviedo said.
Oviedo and his family have been living in a hotel for the past few weeks after their house burned down. Of course, his community quickly responded with not one, but two Go Fund Me pages to offer financial support.
“We didn’t know about [the Go Fund Me page] I guess until three or four days after the fact. It was started, I think, by my wife’s friend; she said ‘Hey, we did this and here it is in case you need it.’ It was a surprise,” Oviedo said.
As of Thursday, Jan. 17, over 19000 dollars have been raised for the Oviedo family, with one fundraiser nearly reaching its 18000 dollar goal.
“It’s very humbling to me, very appreciative of everybody who has offered their thoughts and prayers and messages and donations. It has been wonderful,” Oviedo said.
Despite what has happened, Oviedo and his family are looking optimistically at the future.
“Usually I’m the one not to ask for help. I like to have everything planned and ready to go. And to know what the next step is. This process is not knowing what’s next and how it goes,” Oviedo said.
