A fundraiser has been launched for a family who lost their family home in Holberg, located about 35 kilometres from the northwest tip of Vancouver Island.
On Thursday, August 31st, at around 3 a.m. a house fire started in a remote location just outside of Holberg while six people were sleeping.
Jesurun and Kristy Marks, along with his sister Annette and their three children had to flee their family home in the middle of the night and wait for the Holberg Volunteer Fire Department to come to their aid.
At this time, the cause of the fire isn’t known, although the family believes it may have been an electrical fire.
“It’s a true miracle they all woke up and made it out,” said Feliciana Calvo. “We thank the Lord they all got out in the knick of time but only with the clothes on their backs.”
Everything the Marks family owned was destroyed in the blaze which caused their propane tanks to explode and burnt their home to the ground.
“Their personal belongings, all of their identifications and certificates, all of Jesurun’s livelihood, his logging gear, hunting gear, fishing equipment, all of their household possessions, phones, car keys and irreplaceable memories, were all completely destroyed,” said Calvo in the GoFundMe posting.
They also said that the Marks family dog could not escape the blaze with them and perished in the fire.
Calvo says that the situation has been especially traumatic and difficult for the children.
The fundraiser which Calvo started on behalf of the Marks family is meant to help them get back on their feet and to seek counselling to help the family process the grief that can be associated with losing everything.
As of this publication, over $13,000 of the $15,000 goal has been raised to aid the Mark family.
