KENTWOOD, Mich. — Pablo and Erin Farias are blessed with two fraternal twins who were born on Valentine’s Day.
They were five weeks early, but today they are otherwise healthy.
Life for the young family couldn’t be much better, but fast forward to early April.
One day, the family was at home relaxing when Pablo heard an unusual sound. He went to check the garage.
“He screamed fire! And I was like what, what?” Erin recalled. The family of four escaped.
“I had been nursing, and I didn’t even have time to put my clothes on. That’s how frantic it was to get out of the house,” she said.
“By the time the fire department got there, the whole house was gone,” she said.
The family and their neighbors watched as their home burned with all their possessions inside.
One of their two vehicles a minivan was also destroyed, and her home daycare. Half of their household income is gone.
“You don’t believe it. You’re watching your entire life burn to the ground. How do you connect that to being reality,” she said.
“The bottom line is, this is what matters, the four of us being safe, and the things we lost were just materials,” Pablo said.
Since that night, the family has been overwhelmed with support.
From neighbors, friends, family, to businesses. Even St. Mary’s, the hospital where the twins were born, chipped in.
Pablo’s brother even started a website for them,littesmilesfund.org. Donations have poured in.
“This community, 95% of the donations are by people that we do not even know. Two people that we never even met came to the house with a washer and dryer for us,” Erin said.
“Just thank you [to the community], thank you from the bottom of our hearts, from our whole little family. We would, without the support of the community. I don’t know what we would do,” she said.
As the Farias family stays with friends, they say they are in need ofsize one diapers and baby care products. To see their needs click here.
