CLAY COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Clay County family is still without a home weeks after a fire took everything from them, and now they need the community's help to rebuild what they lost.
There's a small chunk of land in Manchester, Kentucky that the Henson family has called home for five decades.
"I've been here all my life and my dad he has lived here all his life. He's lived here 52 years," says Raymond Henson, who lived in the home with his dad all his life. "I always enjoyed living here and just being here."
Henson lived in the home with his dad, wife and two kids with a newborn on the way.
Only July 17, the family was faced with a horrific experience as they were forced to watch a fire consume their home. Raymond explains the family had returned home and went to make dinner. His father, Ronnie, watching a TV show while his tater tots were in the oven.
"He had a window right there and when he stood up, he seen the firing burning right over here," explains Raymond.
It began in one of the three trailers on the property and quickly spread to the other trailers. The family rushed out of the home and watched as everything burnt to the ground over the next 45 minutes. First responders arrived on the scene within the hour, according to Raymond.
Now, the family mourns the loss of irreplaceable items like family photos, generations of memories and a nursery all ready for the arrival of their baby girl.
"I lost probably $1,500 in tools or more. Then in my dad's house, well we lost a whole lot in there. I mean we had their school clothes we just had bought," Raymond painfully recalls. "The baby's stuff we just had. You know, she's eight months pregnant about to have it in September. We lost everything we had for that."
Raymond says, the first time they came back to the charred remains, a wave of depression washed over him: "Even now it's depressing, seeing everything we had burnt you know."
Raymond isn't letting this tragedy drive him away from his beloved chunk of land. He and his father are set on rebuilding a new home in the exact same spot.
"And at this time all I really want to do is just rebuild you know. Clean up and rebuild. I kind of left it as is because we haven't had anytime to really do anything," said Raymond.
However, the family doesn't have any insurance to cover the damage. They now turn to the community for help to be able to buy their kids back-to-school clothes and prepare for a new baby.
"The money will go towards their school clothes, well that'll be the first thing. Their school clothes and then going towards the baby," Raymond lists off. "And then what's left of it will hopefully go towards trying to get a house back here."
You can click the GoFundMe link to donate to the Henson family and help them rebuild their life after a major loss.
