Over $65K Raised for Chicago Families Devastated by Fire: ‘They Support Us Very Well’

Two sets of Chicago families who lost everything they owned in a fire are getting the care and love they need from their school friends.

The families have three students enrolled at Saint Bartholomew School located in Portage Park, Fox 32 reported Monday.

“We went outside of our own space and reached out to all other Catholic schools in our community who just stepped up and began to support our families with all sorts of love and donations and compassion,” explained Nilma Osiecki, who is St. Bartholomew’s principal.

One family said it was sparked due to a faulty furnace located on the second floor, according to ABC 7.

But during Catholic Schools Week, St. Ferdinand School students hosted a fundraiser and sold bracelets, raising $500 that went toward essential items.

The gifts were presented to one of the families during an assembly at Saint Bartholomew’s on Monday.

Video footage showed the recipients standing behind the baskets full of donated items as the crowd of students looked on:

“I don’t have words to say thank you so much to everyone, to my son’s high school Notre Dame,” Heromi Romano, who is the mother of six children, commented.

“The principal [was] here the same day. The next day they have shoes, they have clothes for the kids, they have uniforms. They support us very, very well. We are surprised how blessed we are,” she added.

Romano’s family and their neighbor currently live in temporary housing but hope to find a permanent place in the near future.

As of Monday night, a GoFundMe page created to help the families had raised over $65,000 of its $100,000 goal.