BIG SPRING, Texas — It's been a couple of days since a fire broke out at Bent Tree Apartments in Big Spring, and the people who lived in the building that caught fire have been sifting through the damage.
That's where Jeremiah Johnston comes in. He is a property manager at Coronado Hills Apartments, just about 100 feet from where Bent Tree caught fire.
In the immediate aftermath, he decided to take action to make sure that those who lost their homes might have clothes and other belongings.
"You just have to close your eyes and imagine you’ve come home and your place is burned down," Johnston said.
For those residents in building two at Bent Tree, that was their reality.
"They’re going to need everything from clothing, bedding, beds, mattresses, you name it, they need it," Johnston said. "Toiletries, even the little things that you wouldn’t think that somebody would need. Just imagine you came home to your place and it’s in ashes, and those are the things that they’re going to need."
These people aren't Johnston's tenants, but they are neighbors. As we have seen, in west Texas, you help your neighbor.
"I’ve had enough to fill a one bedroom apartment," Johnston said. "So I’m going to set the unit next-door up so they can probably come in, and as the families that need things that are from the fire, they can come in and walk through there and kind of pick what they need and what clothes they need."
He said that while what he has right now is a good start, it is only the beginning of what people will need.
"We need some more adult clothing items, bath towels, blankets, sheets," Johnston said. "We haven’t received any furniture donations or like beds and things like that, but we definitely want water bottles and bottles of water."
It is a show of support that you will only find here in West Texas. Texans are once again going above and beyond the call of duty.
"Even though it’s not our complex, it’s our community, and I think the Red Cross and Salvation Army and everybody did an amazing job," Johnston said. "Even just like I said, the residents here and there, they really went above and beyond and pulled together and did a good job."
Johnston said that if anybody wants to donate items, they can reach out to him at Coronado Hills and carve out a time to either meet and drop off the items, or they can tie the items up in plastic bags and leave them outside the office.