Covington’s Family House Fire in Mt.Vernon,NY

My name is Shanya Covington, on August 7th, my family home was burned down and unfortunately it's unrepairable. This tragic disaster happened while I was away at work. My mother and 2 young children ages 7 & 10 was also at home when a fire started in my dining area next to the kitchen. I had a deep freezer in that area and an electrical problem occurred and started a fire. The flames started to spread so rapidly that my mom was unable to put out the fire with our fire extinguisher. Unfortunately, my husband and older son had just left the house before this happened and by time they got back it was too late so they couldn’t be of help.

As soon as my mother realized the severity of the fire she acted quickly, grabbed my children, grabbed her phone and miraculously exited the house without physical harm to her or my children.

For this, I’m forever grateful to God and we are counting our blessings! However, there is an adverse side in which my family and I had to be displaced immediately right after the fire department put out the fire. My mom passed out and was in the hospital for a few day, and now staying with my brother. We are currently staying in a friend’s basement without any furniture or a kitchen. All 5 of us are cramped in a tiny space sleeping on the floor. Our emotions are all over the place, we feel sad, depressed and angry all at the same time.

Nonetheless, life has to go on but we feel stuck because we are now without a home, clothes, food etc. We lost everything in the fire, absolutely everything we owned!!!! To add to this tragic disaster, my husband is retired, is a cancer survivor and was unemployed for a long time. This put us in severe debt and we fell behind on most of our bills including our homeowners insurance. We are so broken!

This is my first time ever needing to write a post like this but I DESPERATELY need help for everyone. Any donations you give will help us demolish the house, as we are responsible for this and the city deem the property hazardous. We also need to get an apartment, clothes, food and other essentials we are desperately needing. Anything at all you can contribute is extremely appreciated and will be put to good use. Nothing is too small give.

To my family and friends I sincerely thank you for your prayers, thoughtfulness, support and help you have given us so far. I pray God will multiply your donations in abundance!

God bless you all,

The Covington Family!