Fire engulfed the Schwartz home in Collinsville on Aug. 9, leaving the family of six with little more than the clothes they were wearing. The family was devastated by the thought of starting to rebuild only two days before school started for the four children.
Front row, Left to right: Jeremy Schwartz Jr. and Neva Schwartz
Middle row, Left to right: Jeremy Schwartz and Courtney Schwartz
Back row, Left to right: Chianne Schwartz and Noah Bailey
“The first two mornings we woke up in tears,” Courtney Schwartz, the wife and mother of the family, said.
The tears soon turned to disbelief at the generosity of complete strangers, friends and family.
“It’s like something you see in a movie,” Schwartz said.
A neighbor pressed some money into Schwartz’s palm the day of the fire, against her objection. The property owners, Phil Throm and Tom Hoppes, gave the family a combined $500 that same evening.
Friends and family also chipped in to help the Schwartz’s, but the fire had destroyed nearly everything they owned. Then something unexpected happened, complete strangers, too many to count, began donating items to the family.
“People came out of the woodwork,” Schwartz said. “It was overwhelming.”
The day after the fire, Ron McGee, owner of Café Agape Express, volunteered to collect donations for the family at his restaurant. McGee did not know the Schwartz’s. His only connection to the family is that his daughter is in the same grade as Noah Bailey, Schwartz’s oldest son.
Two days later, McGee dropped off bags of clothes and supplies at the Collinsville Raider field, where another collection drive was taking place. Noah, who was the only family member home at the time of the fire, played for the Raiders for six years, and Schwartz served as a team mom.
“The Raiders care about the kids,” Schwartz said.
Those who donated at Raider field cared more than to just dump unwanted items for the family
“People bought brand new stuff: dishes, clothes, pillows toiletries, toilet paper, cotton balls; things you use every day but don’t realize until you don’t have it,” Schwartz said.
A representative of the Collinsville Fire Department went to Raider Field to donate a gift card. The Junior Service Club of Collinsville also donated a gift card.
Meanwhile, the Collinsville Unit 10 School District provided new school supplies for the two youngest kids, Neva, 8, and Jeremy Jr., 6, Schwartz said. Heavenly Rhythm Dance Studio, where Neva dances, held a donation drive for family, faculty and staff. “They were awesome,” Schwartz said.
Still the donations kept coming to the thankful family.
“We had to designate friends to be drop off places and contacts,” Schwartz said. “There were so many people wanting to help.”
A Facebook post brought many of the donations, including the potential of a living room set from a woman in Highland who only knows of the family through the Facebook posts. Schwartz had just bought a brand new living room set in April, she said.
Jeremy, who is a manager at Burger King, was recommended by a supervisor to receive assistance from The Burger King McLamoreFoundation, which helps families in need. The fast food chain responded with a $1,500 award for the family.
Friends collected donations from their places of work from people who did not know the family. Schwartz, who estimated her family lost about $50,000 in the fire, said they “are just so humbled that we have had so much support from so many people.”
The family has temporarily moved into a home that was owned by Schwartz’s grandmother, before she passed away four years ago. An aunt had just finished remodeling the home and was about to sell it, when the fire happened. Schwartz called the timing fortunate.
“It was completely empty, but hey, it’s a roof over our heads,” Schwartz said.
Throm and Hoppes plan to strip the building in the 700 block of Lasalle, home to the Schwartz family for eight years, down to the studs and rebuild, Schwartz said. She hopes it will work out that the family will be able to move back in when it is complete. If they cannot, they want to remain in the Collinsville School District, Schwartz said.
When The Metro Independent reported on the fire, Schwartz asked that her family’s identify be kept private. She agreed to this story because she wanted to give a public thank you to every person that helped her family.
“We want them to know how much we appreciate it. We would have never, never expected this. It’s made it so much easier to get through this,” Schwartz said. “There is no way I can repay or personally thank everyone. I have a stack of thank you cards, but I don’t have a lot of addresses,” Schwartz said.
