Posted on 03/16/2006 5:36:30 AM PST by FerdieMurphy
A toppled candle destroyed the home and belongings of an out-of-work nurse and her 10 children
During the late-afternoon confusion, a candle flame grew Monday into a potentially deadly blaze in the home where Kerren Laitaille had been raising her 10 children.
In a matter of minutes, the fire destroyed family pictures, most of their clothes, beds, just about everything they owned. Everything, that is, except their faith.
“It’s shown me I’m blessed with my kids and shown me people do care and are there for you,” Laitaille said Wednesday morning in her all-too-temporary home: a room at Hawthorn Suites in North Naples.
After the fire, the Collier County Red Cross set her up in the plush hotel room for three days, and the hotel offered an additional day at its own expense. That gave Laitaille, a 34-year-old out-of-work nurse and single mother, until 11 a.m. Friday to find a new place.
She doesn’t know what she will do when check-out time arrives. Her old home, which she rented, is no longer inhabitable.
In the meantime, her children, who range in age from 5 months to 15 years, have been watching television and playing video games to pass the time. Those who are old enough to go to school can’t because they don’t have a change of clothes.
For her part, Laitaille has been living in a controlled state of anxiety. Reading the Bible, she said, has kept doubt from consuming her the way the fire raged through her Golden Gate house.
Like most fires, this one started small.
Someone, perhaps one of the younger children, accidentally upended a candle in the master bathroom. The flame must have landed on or near a clothes basket because it spread quickly, said Victor Hill, a spokesman with the Golden Gate fire department.
A pungent odor filled the house at 5280 20th Place S.W. When Laitaille opened her bedroom door to see what was the matter, she encountered a wall of flames. She hollered for everyone to get out.
One of her sons, 13-year-old Derrick St. Claire, guided the others to safety, displaying remarkable calm.
“First, I had to get the small ones out,” the boy recalled Wednesday. “Then, I had to get the girls out, and then the rest of the boys out. Then we had to dial 911. We had everyone out of the house and safe.”
Golden Gate firefighters received the call at 5:55 p.m. and arrived at the house three minutes later, Hill said. Smoke poured from the eaves of the roof, making the house resemble a pot of boiling water with the lid still on top. The fire would go on to cause $50,000 in damage, Hill added.
Within 10 minutes, the fire was under control, but Laitaille’s life was spinning in the other direction.
A neighbor she had never spoken to before would turn out to be what Laitaille later called a “guardian angel.” The woman, a single mother of five children herself, tried to calm a disconsolate Laitaille and urged her not to re-enter the burning home.
Barbara Bekich, 38, stayed with the family for three hours in front of their ruined home as firefighters finished putting out the fire and concluded their investigation. She raided her children’s closets to give the family clothes and brought them diapers, Pop Tarts, water and Cheezits.
“Really,” Bekich said of Laitaille, “she needed a hand held.”
More help came when the Red Cross gave the family a $400 debit card to help replace clothes and other items lost to the fire. Laitaille said Wednesday she hadn’t used the card yet because she thought it hadn’t been activated.
But Jerry Welty, emergency services director for the Collier Red Cross, said it was ready to use when he handed it to her. Laitaille and her family were one of three families the Collier Red Cross has helped after fires during this week alone, Welty said.
Welty said he couldn’t remember the agency ever dealing with such a large single family. The suite the charity rented for her has three king-size beds and a pull-out sofa.
Laitaille, a native of the Bahamas who moved to Miami at 7 years of age, decided from an early age she wanted a big family. That way, each child would have someone to rely on and be relied upon. She was once engaged to be married to the man who fathered eight of her children, but he moved back to the east coast instead.
Since her van broke down two months ago, she has been unable to work as a private nurse and has been living on child support. A family friend this week put up the money to rent a van for her to get around.
Welty said that since the Red Cross only offers short-term help, he hoped another charity would step in by the end of the week to help the family find housing.
Laitaille, who grew up in the Baptist church, has turned to her faith to ease her frayed emotions. On Tuesday night, she read the comforting Psalm 23 seven times.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” it reads. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. ...”
Bump!
freepmail incoming... : )
"I still resent the level of hatred and hostility on this board, regarding women and children."
“First, I had to get the small ones out,” the boy recalled Wednesday. “Then, I had to get the girls out, and then the rest of the boys out. Then we had to dial 911. We had everyone out of the house and safe.”
I totally agree, TSO... This woman's 13 year old seems to have been taught some of the basics, by way of this one sentence, in my opinion... I don't think she's done too poorly...
And the father needs to be arrested for abandonment of responsibility.
And the Liberals say she is in this mess because Welfare doesn't pay enough.
She's done abominably.
your view is interesting......
but I just have one question.....how do you feel about the father(s)?
as ridiculous and irresponsible as she may be... HE LEFT....
she is still there...cooking meals, doing laundry, doctor appts., etc....
I am not defending her... I am just amazed at how we seem to jump all over the irresponsible parent that is there, hands on, taking most of the heat for their mistakes... but we ignore the irresponsible one who fled the HARD part...
if this were a man raising 10 kids on his own, and mommy took off, we would all have more sympathy for the daddy raising kids on his own.....
and I bet most of us would want to hunt down the wicked mother who abandoned her children.....
it is sad when we seem to condone this behavior from men...even though most of us don't mean to or even realize that we do it.
trust me.. the absent parent is costing us tax payers far more than the one left holding the bag.
these kids are going to grow with some big problems...
again I am not defending her.. just pointing out that MOST of our anger should be directed to the parent that disappears...
The last 8 are by the same father. I know I've talked with this mother and she did not ask for help, everyone has volunteered it. She was surviving before the fire, had lived in the 4 bdrm house for 2 years and paid her bills. She does not want money just a place to be able to move into by today 11:00 am. If she lives week to week, which most of us do, she does not have the money to right into a place, therefore she needs someone to rent her a place rentfree for a few months until she can get back on her feet. These children need to get back in school and back into a permanent home.
Don't you know that she has entitlements? She is entitled to take money out of your wallet any time she feels like it.
The welfare departments encourage people to get on the dole so they can get more funds.There would be far fewer people on welfare if they were made to be responsible for their actions. The government is rewarding people for bad behavior. Do they ever encourage people to get a job?
Isn't socialism wonderful?
My thoughts exactly -- nurses are in short supply everywhere.
This woman will never get "back on her feet." She's spent entirely too much time off them!
Yes.
The goobermint mugs us and absconds with money commonly referred to as "your tax money" and throws it around in large wads to further social messes like the one we're discussing here.
Yes there is such a thing called birth control, and some religions consider it a grave sin.
It's also a religious sin to have sex, let alone children, without being married. I doubt a woman who would have 8 children by one father (not married) and an additional 2 children, also without marriage, could quote any religious reservations against much of anything.
My view is different.
The fathers were looking for sex and she gave it. The fathers are scum who abandoned kids, and the woman is a slut who probably did not even know the name of the fathers.
I have no sympathy for this piece of trash. She did not choose a mate and looked for qualities, she probably just chose a zipper for the night.
My symapthy lies with taxpayers, not this leech. Taxpayers have become slaves as we work to pay for these bloodsucking parasites, with the government pimps forcing us to slave for these masters in a perverse reverse 21st century slavery.
I wonder how many other children these men have produced and abandoned?
exactly my point...
amazing... we negelct to throw MOST of the anger towards the one that is not living up to ANY of the consequences of these poor choices..........
no wonder men keep abandoning kids.....no one holds them accountable at all........
I'm saving these snippets as they bear repeating over and over again!
And that is the $200 billion plus question.
They jump from bedroom to bedroom leaving a souvenir of their visit.
Indeed. At least she's getting some support from him. Money doesn't cover parenting however.
Welcome to FR, and thank you for the info. Bless Kerrin and her children, and may the Lord protect them and show them the way. Is there a way people can contribute? I'm thinking about Habitat for Humanity, but in all honesty...I hate Jimmy Carter's guts :-p~~~~
Okay, lets take this to biblical technicalities. Was there a municipal court back in biblical ages that demanded that you record a marriage?
Let me tell you sister, a piece of paper does not a commitment make. This woman's partner abandoned her, so is that her fault? At least he's paying child support. Where in the Bible does it require you to take out a marriage license in your local court house? Just point it out, because I'm very interested.
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