From Flames Comes Compassion

BROOKSVILLE - Kit Raymond didn't look like a woman who'd recently lost her home and nearly all her material possessions.

Her smile stretched wide during a visit Wednesday evening to Easy Street Home Decor on Jefferson Street as well-wishers offered hugs, cheek pecks and words of encouragement.

Her plaid dress in primary colors fit her fine, even if it was secondhand.

The only clue to her loss: Her bare feet and the black sneakers tucked under her chair.

They were the shoes she was wearing when a fire destroyed her home in DaMac Estates, north of Brooksville. The shoes were in good shape before she was forced to root around in the soaked, sooty piles of her belongings to find what turned out to be only a few salvageable items.

Raymond hadn't yet bought a new pair and was a little embarrassed by the old ones, so she sat barefoot by a table full of cookies and coffee thermoses during the Treasure Hunt on the Hill, a monthly mixer hosted by Easy Street and nine other businesses on the city's east side.

"They're definitely just for yard work now," Raymond said of her shoes, laughing.

The house caught fire when a gas can Raymond was using to kill ants near her carport combusted. She said the toughest losses to take are the keepsakes, including a "box of memories" containing the photos that chronicled the growth of her seven children.

Her 18-year-old son James, her youngest and the only one to still live at home, also lost his belongings. The family's car burned, too. Raymond had no homeowner's insurance and was only able to salvage a few dishes and some pots and pans. She still didn't know Wednesday whether the foundation and walls of the block home can be used to rebuild.

But five days after the fire, Raymond said she still had a feeling of serenity despite the trauma. She described the same feeling to a Hernando Today reporter the day after the blaze, and it was still there Wednesday.

"It's like there's this spiritual shield around me," she said. "I'm just so peaceful."

One of the reasons, she said: "I'm experiencing such an outpouring of love for the community."

But there's another.

Raymond works for Love Your Neighbor, a nonprofit organization that provides food and clothing to the area's homeless and needy residents. Now, she's receiving the kind of generosity she heaps upon others.

That helps her, of course, but she said it also will help her make life a little easier for the poor.

"I've been tasked with a mission to help those in need," she said, "and if God needed to use me to bring that to the attention of the community, I'm willing to go through this."

"Now I know how the homeless feel," she said, "at least a little bit."

Raymond is staying with Mary Jane Russell, the executive director of the Hernando County Fine Arts Council who lives in Brooksville. James, who will graduate this year from Hernando High School and is working to save money for college, is staying with friends.

Revelers at Wednesday's event raised $150 that night, but the amount is growing because the businesses still have collection buckets on their counters, said Dana Reuter, a co-owner of Easy Street.

John Callea co-owns The Rising Sun Cafe in Brooksville with his wife Lisa. The couple also founded Love Your Neighbor. Callea said Wednesday that he doubts the remains of the house can be saved, but is soliciting help from handymen and women with hopes of minimizing the cost to rebuild.

"Like a good, old-fashioned barn raising," he said.

The Calleas will host a pasta dinner fundraiser for Raymond at 5 p.m. Monday at the cafe, 20 N. Main St. Papa Joe's Restaurant is providing the baked ziti, Chick-Fil-A the beverages. Several local businesses are donating items for door prizes.

"You never realize how great a community this is until something like this happens, and then people come out of the woodwork," Reuter said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Fundraiser dinner for Kit Raymond, who lost her home in a fire last Saturday.

WHEN: 5 p.m. Monday, May 12.

WHERE: Rising Sun Cafe, 20 N. Main St., Brooksville.

COST: $20 donation requested, but any amount welcome.

CONTACT: RSVP requested. Call John or Lisa Callea at 848-0090 or 428-9434.