Friends and strangers come together to help a Hollister family
who lost their home and pet to fire
The pounding on her front door in the early hours of a chilly
November morning jarred Michelle Thomas awake, but surprisingly,
the Hollister mother wasn’t cold as she jumped out of bed.
She opened the door to find her neighbors
– Jackie Perry and her three young sons – standing on her porch,
barefoot and in pajamas, crying. It was then Thomas realized
something was terribly wrong. The Perry’s mobile home, located just
10 feet from Thomas’ bedroom window, was engulfed in flames.
Friends and strangers come together to help a Hollister family who lost their home and pet to fire
The pounding on her front door in the early hours of a chilly November morning jarred Michelle Thomas awake, but surprisingly, the Hollister mother wasn’t cold as she jumped out of bed.
She opened the door to find her neighbors – Jackie Perry and her three young sons – standing on her porch, barefoot and in pajamas, crying. It was then Thomas realized something was terribly wrong. The Perry’s mobile home, located just 10 feet from Thomas’ bedroom window, was engulfed in flames.
“It was a shocking, scary, terrifying night,” Thomas said. “The fire burst right through their patio door. I grabbed the kids and pulled them into my house, and I put on a video to keep them occupied. I noticed they weren’t wearing shoes, so I went and got two pairs from my son’s room and a pair of black rain boots of my daughter’s for their youngest boy. The fire was so close, the temperature in my room was 105 degrees.”
The Perry family – Jackie, husband Joe and their boys Devin, 9, Wyatt, 6 and Rourke, 3 – lost everything the night of Nov. 28, including their pit bull, named Bocefus, who began barking when the fire started, waking the family and helping them to get out safely.
The next day, Thomas, who had taken the shell-shocked family into her home that night, looked out her window and realized that while the fire was out, the Perry’s plight was far from over. They needed everything – a place to live, clothes, and a car. They needed help. They needed a miracle.
The holiday spirit is alive and well
Thomas is a regular listener of the Bill and Marla morning show on Mix 106.5 FM (KEZR), a top 40 radio station based in San Jose. The two deejays, Bill Kelly and Marla Davies, promote the station’s annual Christmas Wish project, in which listeners can nominate a person or family in need of some extra help during the holidays. Even though Christmas Wish wasn’t due to start until the following week, Thomas decided to contact the station.
“I listen to them all the time and I remembered last year hearing about all the families they helped at Christmas,” Thomas said. “I thought I would see what they could do.”
Kelly, who lives in Hollister, hadn’t heard about the fire, but said he was immediately touched when contacted by Thomas.
“This one meant a little something to me, because it had happened in my town,” Kelly said. “I knew right where the family had lived because I drive past it all the time.”
On Monday, Kelly kicked off the station’s 2007 Christmas Wish by reading on air the e-mail sent by Thomas regarding the Perrys. As he came to the part about Bocefus dying as she tried to save the family, Kelly began to cry.
“I can’t predict how these stories are going to affect me,” he said. “I’m a big dog person, but the ones that get to me are always the case where it is a child or an animal, defenseless, going out of their way to help someone and then they get hurt. You look at some of these stories and wonder how this kind of stuff happens.”
After reading Thomas’ e-mail, Kelly gave listeners about an hour to call in with donations. The switchboard lit up immediately, and on the next song break, Kelly had listeners on the line offering everything from cash, clothing and gift cards to an apartment. One regular listener, who raises money for local causes by giving out hugs and kisses on Valentine’s Day, offered to hold a special hug and kisses day this weekend to raise money for the Perrys.
“It’s amazing what people give,” Kelly said. “I don’t know if it is the holiday spirit or what, but they just go nuts.”
One man, who wished to remain anonymous, walked into the KEZR lobby and dropped off a check for $500. By the time Kelly was ready to end the day’s Christmas Wish, the station had raised $1,900 in cash and gift cards, along with offers of clothing, holiday dinners, the rent-free apartment and a decorated Christmas tree. One woman even said she would pay for the Perrys to pick out a new dog and have it vaccinated and neutered once the family was ready.
“It’s a beautiful thing,” Kelly said.
Thomas, who received a call from Kelly at the end of the hour, agreed.
“It’s just amazing what people will do,” she said.
A Christmas Wish
Kelly has been doing the Christmas Wish project ever since coming to KEZR, but the idea was not a new one.
“I’ve been doing radio in San Jose since 1983, and I did it back then for a good many years,” he said. “In the late 1990s I left the area for a while and took a break, but I’ve been doing the Mix morning show for about 10 years now, and we’ve been doing Christmas Wish the whole time.”
Kelly, and co-host Davies, go through dozens of e-mails each day before selecting the one they will read on air the following morning. The day after collecting donations for the Perry family, the station raised $3,000 for a woman who had recently fought both cancer and a kidney infection and was living in a shelter with her five children after divorcing her abusive, crystal meth-addicted husband.
“We go through stacks of e-mails and start welling up,” Kelly said. “We read about husbands passing away, sons being sent to prison. The only way you can get through some of these stories is to not think too hard about what you are reading.”
The generosity of Mix listeners always amazes the morning show duo, Kelly said.
“We get the people who will just go that extra step,” he said. “In the past, we’ve had people volunteer to go to the recipient’s home and prepare a holiday dinner. Or they’ll bring a decorated tree. Anything they can do within their ability, they offer to do.”
Kelly says he sometimes worries listeners may feel like they can’t give enough after hearing about a large contribution, such as the $500 anonymous donation to the Perrys.
“People hear that and think ‘here I am with my little donation, I don’t want to call now.’ But they should still call,” he said. “Give what you can. It’s when people call and say to us ‘I’m going through hard times myself, but I want to give $20,’ that’s when I really feel it. We had a 10-year old girl call on Tuesday and donate $20. It was beautiful. Really, the heart of the whole thing is the small amounts we get from people who understand what is important in life.”
Anyone can nominate a person or family for Christmas Wish; nominations can be sent to Kelly or Davies via their personal e-mails found on KEZR’s Web site, kezr.com (click on the Bill and Marla link).
Starting over
After hearing from Kelly Monday morning, Thomas called Jackie Perry to tell her the good news.
“What was funny was that she heard it all herself on the radio that morning, and I didn’t even tell her about what I had done,” Thomas said. “She was so surprised.”
The Perrys are staying with another neighbor, but Thomas and her husband rented a trailer for Jackie and Joe, now parked in the neighbor’s driveway, for Jackie and Joe to sleep at night. Thomas has offered Jackie the use of her car, as the Perrys lost two vehicles in the blaze that took their home.
“She didn’t want to take it, but I told her ‘look, it’s just sitting there. It’s yours to use,'” Thomas said. “Jackie and her husband are country people. They live very simply.”
Thomas said the offer of an apartment was “amazing,” but wasn’t sure if the Perrys would be able to use it.
“They’ve already looked at seven other rentals, and haven’t found anything,” Thomas said. “But they have to stay in Hollister because of the kids and school, and I don’t really know yet where that apartment is.”
Investigators say the blaze began when still warm stove ashes that had been put in a bag and then placed on the back porch caught fire. Initial estimates figure the total loss to be about $75,000, according to CalFire investigators.
“Right now, they are just trying to make sense of it all,” Thomas said.
People who wish to donate to the Perrys can still do so through KEZR by calling the station at 408-287-5775 or e-mailing Kelly or Davies. Monetary donations can also be sent to the Perry Family Fire Relief Fund at San Benito Bank, account number 0101625317.
