South St. Louis neighbors rally around family after 2-year-old dies in house fire

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Neighbors in South St. Louis are supporting some of their own after a house fire left a two-year-old dead and several others in the hospital.

The St. Louis Fire Department said they were called to a home on Pennsylvania Avenue around 4:30 Wednesday morning. When they arrived, they said flames were already overtaking the house.

“I think it really hits home when something like this happens just a few blocks away from home,” Kim Westerman, president of the Carondelet Neighborhood Association, exclaimed.

A neighborhood is now left heartbroken after a two-year-old was killed and several others hospitalized as a result of that fire. The department said the ages of those treated range from 10 months old to an adult in their 30s.

Firefighters said the cause was an unattended lit candle, and that the home had no gas or electricity.

“Our immediate response was help in any way we can,” Marina May Schleicher, president of the Patch Neighborhood Association, stated. “Sometimes your neighbors are all you have, so we wanted to do [something], and the easiest, simplest, smallest thing we could do was just step in and do the GoFundMe initially.”

That’s why the Patch and Carondelet Neighborhood Associations, along with Alderperson Anne Schweitzer, came together to create a GoFundMe to support the family.

Their goal of $5,000 was raised within hours.

“I think people in St. Louis and in Carondelet really do want to help each other,” Westerman explained. “We are a community at the end of the day, and that’s really the core of who we are.”

“We help one another; that’s really our motto at Sisters of St. Joseph - the love of god and neighbor without distinction - so when there’s a need, we all need to respond,” Sister Maureen Freeman of Sisters of St. Joseph said.

Just a couple blocks away from the family’s home, a donation box has been set up outside Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, with all donations to be given to the family.

“We’re collecting,” Sister Freeman exclaimed. “We have a collection box right here, and from what I know from the family, they lost everything - coats, blankets, you name it, socks, underwear - all of the things that you don’t even think about.”

Neighbors are just hoping to continue to show their support, while also letting others know about resources available if they need help as well.

“This was absolutely a preventable tragedy,” Westerman stated. “And I hope that we can think more about getting information out there about the resources available to help people heat their homes in the winter.”

“[We want to] encourage neighbors, if they’re struggling, to please reach out,” May Schleicher said. “The neighborhood associations will be consolidating some resources to assist some folks as well.”

People in need of utility assistance, or who are looking for resources, can contact their neighborhood association or go to heatupstlouis.org.

If you would like to drop off items for the family, the donation box is located outside the Ministry Building at 6400 Minnesota Avenue.

Organizers are asking the public for current-season clothing and shoes donations for the children.

The family also needs women’s size small clothing, shoes and size 4 diapers for the baby.

If you would like to donate money to support the family, there are several GoFundMe’s available.