“This is a community effort, it’s a model of how people help each other,” Erica Stroem (Erica Stroem) in February 2021 after a chimney fire destroyed a home in Wetzfield Village, the local Efforts for the settlement of Waitsfield resident George Pakk (George Pakk) said.

Last weekend, on Saturday, November 6, Pakk moved into his new home, which is a small house. Stroem and her sister Karin bought it with funds from the GoFundMe event a few months after the fire broke out. This small house is almost an inner shell. Volunteers worked hard to complete it throughout the spring and autumn, and moved it to a place where the final permit was obtained at the end of September, and the house was connected to water and wastewater.

But before that, the fire debris must be removed from the scene and the scene must be cleaned up. That is what happened this summer. Various foundations were established and the house was moved from the back of Localfolk Smokehouse to Waitsfield Village at the end of September. After the house was built, the bathroom tiles were laid and installed, a platform was built for Pakk, and then Pakk moved in.

Strom said that there were many people who helped, many people gave things to the house, and many people helped raise $24,000 for the construction of the small house and the materials to complete it.

"We did this, but we got a lot of help. This is a joint effort of Vince Gauthier, Charlie Hosford, Jay Seekins, Marv Theuer and his sons Evan, Brad Belknap, Ward Plumbing and others. John Morse of Localfolk Smokehouse Donated space and electricity for parking and building small houses. Community Fund and Rebecca Baruzzi helped us, Waitsfield United Church of Christ helped us. Kingsbury Construction Company donated cleanup time, Bisbee donated what we needed 100% of all things," she said-noting that this is a short list of people who will help. It is almost impossible to count everyone.

Pakk received many housewarming gifts and many items for his new home, but still needed some things, including bath towels and kitchen towels, bath mats, Tupperware, an outdoor trash can, a litter box (his cat was gone) a few days after the fire , But back again), big pillows and a recycling bin. Email Stroem This email address has been protected by an anti-spam plug-in. You need to enable JavaScript to view it. Or her sister Karin has received anti-spam plug-in protection at this email address. You need to enable JavaScript to view it. Details on what is still needed.