A weekend fundraiser raised over $2,200 for one of the victims of the Oct. 11 Lakeside Road fire.
Related: House fire erupts
Cheryl Molina, a live-in nanny for Al Mansfield and his wife, lost almost everything when the fire destroyed the Mansfield’s home.
“Cheryl is really happy,” said Mansfield, who owns the Penticton White Spot, explaining their home insurance didn’t cover Molina’s belongings.
Mansfield decided to hold a fundraiser at his restaurant, donating 20 per cent of sales from Sunday to help Molina replace some of her belongings.
Molina has worked for the Mansfields for about 2.5 years, and Mansfield said they treat her like family.
“We didn’t really need a full-time live-in caregiver because we’re not that old. I’m just 63 right now,” said Mansfield. “We brought her over here. You can’t help everybody in the world but we thought, well, we’ll bring over one person from the Philippines.
“I thought we would just bring over one person. Well, we have brought over five people already from the Philippines and given them a new start in life.”
While they’ve been able to help Molina out, Mansfield said they had more bad news.
“Unfortunately we had some guys break into the house and stole a whole bunch of stuff, just in the last few days,” said Mansfield. “The police managed to catch them, so we retrieved over $12,000 back in stolen material. Nothing like getting kicked when you are down.”
The Oct. 11 fire burnt two homes. Mary Esta, the 92-year-old owner of the home where the fire started is still missing.
Related: Search resumes for the remains of the missing woman
