Sherburne reaches out to help couple left homeless after fire
SHERBURNE – The Sherburne American Legion will be hosting a goodwill breakfast Saturday for a retired couple who lost their home in a fire about three weeks ago.
From 7 a.m. to noon on Saturday, members of the Sherburne American Legion Post 876 will be collecting donations and offering proceeds from their pancake breakfast to help the family rebuild.
Charles Wilcox and his wife Lisa were injured Aug. 28 after they awoke to the beeping of a detector as smoked filled their bedroom just after 3 a.m. They couple crawled out an emergency window and called 911.
Charles’ sister, Jane Mondore, speaking for the family Monday, said her older brother was treated for severe smoke inhalation and released from the hospital four days after the fire.
She explained Charles ran back into the house with a garden hose in an attempt to save the couple’s possessions and pets, but was overcome by smoke.
When firemen arrived, they treated Lisa for minor smoke inhalation, but Charles was taken by Sherburne Ambulance to Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton. Later, he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, where he was later released.
Mondore said Charles is in his mid 70s and is recovering well from the incident, but added that the family was not insured.
The Sherburne American Legion reported that Wilcox was a lifetime member of the organization and served as its post commander in the late ‘70s.
Patrons can bring with them a free will donation. The Legion’s breakfast will offer the following pancakes, eggs, homefries, sausage, sausage gravy and biscuits, apple sauce, coffee and milk.
The Legion is also asking for cash donations that can be mailed to NBT Bank in Sherburne.
The checks or money orders should be payable to the “Sherburne American Legion Post 876” and mailed to NBT Bank P.O. Box 712, Sherburne New York, 13460, reported officials. The donations should also be earmarked “Wilcox Benefit.”
Currently the Wilcox family is staying with relatives in the Edmeston area and has received limited aid from the Red Cross and friends. Mondore said Charles was a frequent golfer and friends at the Mountain Top Golf Course in Sherburne had also collected over $1,400 in donations for the family.
“If they did not have working smoke alarms, this would have been much worse. They were asleep and awoke to alarms,” said Sherburne Fire Chief Patrick Lawrence.
The home was located just outside the Village of Sherburne at 1101 County Road 23, near the intersection of Rt. 80.
When crews arrived at the scene, Mondore said her brother was so overcome with smoke he was forced to rest on the ground in coughing fits as firemen began fighting the blaze. He would eventually be transported to the hospital by Sherburne EMS and placed on a ventilator, she added.
She also reported the family lost nearly all their possessions in the blaze and did not have insurance to cover any of the damage.
Mondore said the couple was retired and were the only two living at the home, apart from several pet cats, many of which were lost in the fire.
From 7 a.m. to noon on Saturday, members of the Sherburne American Legion Post 876 will be collecting donations and offering proceeds from their pancake breakfast to help the family rebuild.
Charles Wilcox and his wife Lisa were injured Aug. 28 after they awoke to the beeping of a detector as smoked filled their bedroom just after 3 a.m. They couple crawled out an emergency window and called 911.
Charles’ sister, Jane Mondore, speaking for the family Monday, said her older brother was treated for severe smoke inhalation and released from the hospital four days after the fire.
She explained Charles ran back into the house with a garden hose in an attempt to save the couple’s possessions and pets, but was overcome by smoke.
When firemen arrived, they treated Lisa for minor smoke inhalation, but Charles was taken by Sherburne Ambulance to Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton. Later, he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, where he was later released.
Mondore said Charles is in his mid 70s and is recovering well from the incident, but added that the family was not insured.
The Sherburne American Legion reported that Wilcox was a lifetime member of the organization and served as its post commander in the late ‘70s.
Patrons can bring with them a free will donation. The Legion’s breakfast will offer the following pancakes, eggs, homefries, sausage, sausage gravy and biscuits, apple sauce, coffee and milk.
The Legion is also asking for cash donations that can be mailed to NBT Bank in Sherburne.
The checks or money orders should be payable to the “Sherburne American Legion Post 876” and mailed to NBT Bank P.O. Box 712, Sherburne New York, 13460, reported officials. The donations should also be earmarked “Wilcox Benefit.”
Currently the Wilcox family is staying with relatives in the Edmeston area and has received limited aid from the Red Cross and friends. Mondore said Charles was a frequent golfer and friends at the Mountain Top Golf Course in Sherburne had also collected over $1,400 in donations for the family.
“If they did not have working smoke alarms, this would have been much worse. They were asleep and awoke to alarms,” said Sherburne Fire Chief Patrick Lawrence.
The home was located just outside the Village of Sherburne at 1101 County Road 23, near the intersection of Rt. 80.
When crews arrived at the scene, Mondore said her brother was so overcome with smoke he was forced to rest on the ground in coughing fits as firemen began fighting the blaze. He would eventually be transported to the hospital by Sherburne EMS and placed on a ventilator, she added.
She also reported the family lost nearly all their possessions in the blaze and did not have insurance to cover any of the damage.
Mondore said the couple was retired and were the only two living at the home, apart from several pet cats, many of which were lost in the fire.
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