Fundraiser Underway For Family Displaced By Tewksbury Fire

TEWKSBURY, MA -- Maria Forrest graduated from Tewksbury Memorial High School in 1998. Now, 20 years later, her classmates are coming to her aid. A GoFundMe page has been set up for Forrest and her parents, who lost their home in a two-alarm fire last week.

There were no injuries in the fire, but according to fundraiser organizer Pam Schoenfeld, the Forrests need help getting back on their feet. As of Friday morning, the benefit had received more than half of its goal of $10,000 in donations. Schoenfeld said proceeds from the fundraiser will be used to set the family up with first and last month's rent in a new apartment and a prepaid cell phone account for Maria.

"To the best of our knowledge, there's not much of a nest egg for them to pull from in order to get back on their feet. The home was the foundation of what they had," Schoenfeld wrote on the GoFundMe page.

The family was able to safely evacuate their house Saturday night and call 911 after noticing smoke billowing from the basement. The Tewksbury Fire Department, along with fire fighters from Billerica and Wilmington, were able to put it out after about two hours, but deteriorating weather conditions and false ceilings in the house made the job difficult. The Red Cross was called in to assist the Forrest family and find them hotel accommodations for the night.

It was the second house fire in less than a week in Tewksbury. Last Wednesday, crews responded to a fire on Whipple Road. There were no injuries in that fire, either.

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Patch file photo by Dave Copeland.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).