Highland Park Rallies For Christmas Eve Fire Victims

HIGHLAND PARK, NJ — Incredibly, the residents of Highland Park have donated $7,000 to help the 24 families displaced by the devastating Christmas Eve fire at the Cedar Lane apartment complex.

As Patch reported, the fire broke out just before 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and rapidly spread through the complex, completely destroying at least four apartments and damaging about a dozen more. The fire is believed to have started in an apartment of a hoarder.

"To date $7,000 has been donated online (to the Reformed Church of Highland Park) to assist the victims," said the church's minister, Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, in a Facebook post. "So far we have spent the money on hotel stays, U Haul rentals and Visa gift cards and Shop Rite cards. All the money will be spent, as soon as it is requested, on essentials for the impacted families."

Kaper-Dale said the church is working closely with the borough of Highland Park and the property managers at Cedar Lane to coordinate financial distribution.

There are still 24 families that have not been able to get back into their apartments, he said. Some of those are because the electricity just isn't back on yet.

But 12 families will have to be moved to other units entirely, as their homes are now uninhabitable.

Kaper-Dale also said that his church will be putting together an online registry of needed items, per family.

"We will identify the families as they are given to us ... and we will ask people to go online and get items that each family identifies for us as needed at this time," he wrote. "If you bring goods, please bring goods that you have committed to ONLINE. Please label the items donated, so we give them to the correct family. Again, we don't want unrequested loads of goods dropped off at the church for displaced families."

Further donations can be made at the church website rchighlandpark.org.

Past coverage: Christmas Eve Fire Tears Through Highland Park Apartment Complex

Photo from the scene taken by Paul Karmazin, local EMT, and provided to Patch.