A Detroit father of five was overcome with emotion after he learned how much money had been raised to help him following a fire that destroyed a home he had been working on.
Roderick Reynolds, 32, had been fixing up a house over the last three months for his family to live in, and he was about a week or two away from finishing it when a fire destroyed the whole structure, according to Fox 2 Detroit.
“I’ve done everything right,” an emotional Reynolds said to local news in a video that went viral. “How am I gonna tell my kids?”
Detroit father of five loses home he’d been fixing up & work truck after raging blaze: “I’ve done everything right. How am I gonna tell my kids?” MORE: @FOX2News 6PM. DONATE: https://t.co/dtL77dXTOk pic.twitter.com/j0lAN2SYLv
— Erika Erickson (@FOX2Erika) June 4, 2020
A GoFundMe page was quickly set up to help Reynolds rebuild the home.
“Hard working father of 5 home burned to ground after being set ablaze on Thursday morning,” read the statement on the GoFundMe page. “Family dog was lost in fire. Father purchased home from land bank for his family an was working day and night on home. Home was a few weeks away from being habitable so that he could obtain home insurance. This is beyond heart breaking to receive a call that your home you invested blood, sweat, and tears in literally was no more. Anything can help.”
In just one day, roughly $380,000 were raised, prompting the father of five to get emotional on camera once again from joy rather than sadness.
UPDATE!! MORE TO COME!! pic.twitter.com/p1FlExISUj
— Erika Erickson (@FOX2Erika) June 5, 2020
“Everything is happy tears now,” Reynolds said.
The Detroit Fire Department says it is still investigating the cause of the fire.
