A Casey County family is rebuilding their lives after losing their home in a devastating fire just ten days before Christmas, relying on their faith and community support to get through the tragedy.
Matthew Atwood, an associate pastor at Harmony Fellowship Church in Nicholasville, and his wife Gena lost everything when flames consumed their older home, which was not covered by insurance. The couple has three children, all under 18.
"My son, he was actually at home when he had seen some smoke coming into his room, went down, the flames were everywhere. He was able to get them, all the dogs out of the house safely with just some minor burns on his face," Atwood said.
Atwood moved to Casey County from Las Vegas, where Atwood was born, and had been attending Harmony Fellowship Church for about a year before the fire destroyed their home.
"We moved back from Las Vegas where I was born back to Casey County and I've lived there all my life," Atwood said.
The house is considered a total loss, though Atwood hopes some sentimental items may have survived.
"There's a few things that may have survived but it'd be like medals. I know me and my wife have two crosses that's very sentimental to us," Atwood said.
A GoFundMe has been established to help the family with expenses in the coming months. The Atwoods are also thinking of their neighbors, as another woman about a mile away lost her home the day after their fire.
"Not only did we lose our house, but the very next day a woman about one mile from our house lost hers. So whatever anybody can give, we will take and whatever we can't use, we will pass it on to her," Atwood said.
Community members can make monetary donations through the GoFundMe or drop off food and clothing at the church. There are also drop-off locations in Lexington at Auto Excel and Liberty at Tip Top Construction.
Despite the devastating loss, Atwood remains steadfast in his faith.
"We think of Job when he lost everything he got twice as much as that he had because of his faith and I wanna make sure that everybody knows that I know God's gonna take care of us," Atwood said.
You can find the link to the GoFundMe here.
