Generous Commerce City mom now needs support after devastating fire

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (KDVR) — A Commerce City mom, known in her community for helping others, is now in dire need of help for her family after their house caught on fire earlier this month.

Four walls and countless memories were reduced to ashes for the Roy family. Rena Roy still does not know how a fire started in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon, destroying everything at her home.

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“It’s really hard, how we lost everything — my family member’s remains and pictures and just all the memories of my kids,” Roy said. “This is all my kids have known is this house.”

Roy is a mother to her children, but she’s also a mother figure to those in her community who need support.

“There’s at least been 50 people that I’ve opened my door to, and so it’s really hard to go and ask for help or anything, because I’m used to being the one giving,” Roy said. “But I know with the circumstances that my kids are going through right now, it’s — it’s what I need to do.”

The South Adams County Fire Department said a family is safe but several pets perished in a house fire in Commerce City Saturday.
The South Adams County Fire Department said a family is safe but several pets perished in a house fire in Commerce City Saturday.

Roy currently has eight in her home. Her 11-year-old son, the youngest, embraced her during her FOX31 interview, asking if his mom was OK. They were both unable to put on shoes before escaping the flames.

“It happened so fast that, you know, my kids were over there scrambling to get each other and try to save their own pets, and they weren’t even able to get all their pets out,” Roy said.

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Roy said their kittens and dog Bear did not make it out of the fire alive.

“Bear, he was more of like my son’s support animal since my son has, you know, his special needs,” she said. “My main goal is to get all my kids together, because once I have everybody together, then that’s whenever the healing process starts, and we could take care of each other and try to rebuild our lives.”

Family friends made a GoFundMe to help the family get through this trying time.

Donations are also being accepted at the Kearney Middle School office. You can give them to Jody.

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