FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Donations are being collected for a Freehold Township couple who lost their home in a fire.
Residents Nicole Pires and Dawn Auerbach are collecting items for their neighbors Kurt and Annie Hollering, whose house on Sargent Road was destroyed in a fire on Nov. 24.
Items being sought include clothing, shoes, jackets, toiletries and other general household items. Kurt Hollering has an XL-XXL shirt size, a 38×32 pants size and an 11 shoe size. Annie Hollering has an XL shirt size, a 16 pants size, and an 11 shoe size.
An online fundraiser seeking $15,000 for the Hollerings has been created by Pires and Auerbach and may be found at https://www.gofundme.com/freehold-township-house-fire?teamInvite=wk3W9ZBJDQdHmnTSUDK7ryey8yY4AoeN1IRPV2CoZKDnAHtmHtd0peCwStEjKq1B
“We are recommending the Go Fund Me for monetary donations for our neighbors,” Pires said. “We have asked them to put in their own bank account to receive the Go Fund Me donations to ensure they get every penny donated and to reassure the public that the money collected will not be handled by anyone other than the family affected.”
Pires and Auerbach are accepting donations at their homes and may be reached on Facebook or on the fundraiser’s page for further information.
A snack sale is being held by Pires’ daughter, Kayla Bell, and Auerbach’s sons, Justin and Robert, to raise funds for the Hollerings during a winter concert at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School on Dec. 5.
According to Pires, the Hollerings are staying in a hotel until they can find housing and do not have room for all of the clothing that has already been donated. Donated items are being stored in Pires’ home until the Hollerings have more permanent living accommodations. It is not known at this time if the temporary housing they secure will be furnished.
The couple is using a rental car for transportation because the fire destroyed both of their vehicles. The burned out hulks of two cars remained on the lawn of the home several days after the fire.
“The turnout has been so amazing that we are overwhelmed with the donations we have received in response,” Pires said last week. “Our neighbors do not have family here and are beyond grateful for all the ‘strangers’ who have helped them. They are overwhelmed with all of this and appreciate everything that has been done for them.
“One neighbor neither of us had met before contacted me on Facebook,” Pires continued. “She knew of a business that allowed the couple to come pick out clothing on (Nov. 26) at no charge. That neighbor even drove the couple to the store. It’s amazing and it warms my heart to see strangers helping strangers and neighbors helping neighbors.”
Pires said the Hollerings were asleep in their home when the fire broke out. She said her husband, Gabriel, “rushed toward the fire next door, screaming out to wake them up through the white smoke and to get them out while I called 911. He was met outside the house by the first responding officer. If the responding officer and my husband had not been calling to them to get them out, who knows if they would have woken up.”
Pires said her husband suffered smoke inhalation and was transported to a hospital. She said the Hollerings were asleep and were awakened by her husband’s calls. She said they heard the smoke detectors and immediately left their home.
As of Nov. 29, the cause of the fire remained under investigation by the Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s Office, according to Deputy Fire Marshal Dean Stoppiello.