Gift Card Drive Helps Bowie Residents Recovering From Fires: City Officials

BOWIE, MD — City leaders are rallying the community to help residents recover from two recent fires that affected 15 homes total in Bowie.

A two-alarm fire destroyed 14 condo units at Woodland Lake near the Bowie Town Center last month. Three apartment residents had to be rescued from their balconies when the fire broke out in their building March 25 and a woman was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Last week, a home in Pointer Ridge was damaged by fire. Officials have encouraged residents to participate in a gift card donation drive to help provide assistance and support as "they rebuild their lives." City leaders posted on Facebook that donors can drop off a gift card at the finance window at Bowie City Hall weekdays now through April 22 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“Target, Walmart, grocery stores, restaurants, anything that can help these families that have been impacted,” Bowie City Council member Clinton Truesdale Sr. said at a recent city council meeting. “Some of our city workers were impacted as residents. A total of 15 families have been impacted. It’s something that you’d never want to go through. Fortunately, there were no casualties. But when you lose something like this, you lose everything in a sense of everything that you’ve built. We want to ensure that [we’ll] be a part to show them the support of community.”