NEW ORLEANS — For Laverne Pinkey and her family, tears of sadness have turned to tears of gratitude.
“I’m at a loss for words, but my heart is just so full,” said Pinkney.
Around 8:30 New Year’s Eve – her birthday – Pinkney’s home of 50 years burned.
Illegal fireworks are blamed for igniting a truck in her driveway before the fire spread to her house.
The fire left her homeless and without a way to pay for repairs. She told us on New Year’s Day, just hours after the fire,
“I have sarcoidosis and MS and I don’t know where I’m going to go. I don’t know how this is going to get fixed. I couldn’t pay homeowner’s because I’m on social security.”
What happened next will be no surprise to those who know the spirit of New Orleans.
Money is pouring in. Hundreds of people have donated to her GoFundMe page, and donations totaled more than 21-thousand dollars by Sunday evening, just two days after the page was created.
And that’s not all.
Sunday, while Eyewitness News was back at her home for a follow-up, Wendell Frazier came to her door.
“Whatever flooring you need, we’re going to donate it and we’re going to install it,” Frazier said. The owner of Frazier Flooring will be giving Pinkney new floors.
Then, moments later, a woman who says she’s been through a fire herself dropped off a check. She wished to remain anonymous.
“I know how it is to have people do things for me. And I just feel like I felt like I was led to do it for her. Because I think there’s enough bad in this world, and if I can do one good thing for somebody else,” the woman said.
The support is remarkable and for Laverne’s son, Torri, emotional.
“All the people trying to help and do what they can, I just appreciate everything. I just appreciate everything from the bottom of my heart, I really do,” said Torri Pinkney.
It was a tragedy on the last day of 2020, but turned into a 2021 story of love, light, and community. Pinkney told us through tears, sitting in her home,
“Everybody’s been so nice. And I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart. I thank you.”
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