LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — After a fire displaced roughly 40 residents at the Newport Commons apartment complex in Warwick Township, the Lititz-area community is responding to help those now without a home.
Groups like the Warwick Community Hub and the Lititz Warwick Community Chest are collecting money, clothes and food items for residents of the building.
"What we ended up deciding is that we would try to gather funding for the families and then try to understand what the actual need would be over the next day or two, or even beyond," said Steve Jeffrey, the executive director of the Warwick Community Hub. "I don't think this is going to be a quick turnaround."
"We're working with the Newport Commons and with the school district to figure out what the day one needs are, and then step from there to look ahead and figure out what they need through the holidays and then as the seasons progress," said Michelle Caron, the president of the Lititz Warwick Community Chest.
The Warwick School District told FOX43 that two families of students in the district as well as a district employee were affected by the fire.
The district is coordinating with both the Warwick Community Hub and the Lititz Warwick Community Chest to help assist those families.
"One of the biggest challenges is just making sure that they feel supported, loved and taken care of," said Warwick acting superintendent Steve Szobocsan. "We're coming up on Thanksgiving, so [we want to make] sure that these families don't miss out on a lot of the things that everybody else is going to be able to enjoy in the next couple of weeks."
Donations to the Warwick Community Hub and the Lititz Warwick Community Chest can be made online.
Donations are also being accepted in the leasing office of Newport Commons.