Community rallies behind Balch Springs fire victims

Fred Jackson, 67, browsed through stacks of clothing donated Saturday to victims of a devastating fire, looking for anything he could take home. Jackson pointed to a gray suit and said he had been out shopping for a new suit Monday. Two hours later, he returned to find his “whole community was lit up” by a fire that destroyed his home. “Monday changed the course of many people’s lives,” he said. Twenty-six homes were damaged and nine of them destroyed by Monday’s grass fire in Balch Springs. In response to the blaze, members of the Spring Ridge Homeowners Association quickly turned their planned summer block party into a large benefit and donation drive for the affected residents. More than 10 organizations pitched in to assist, along with volunteers from the neighborhood. Block-party essentials remained at the benefit at Mackey Elementary School — not far from where the fire burned days earlier — including a bounce house, upbeat music and yard games, with Soulman’s Bar-B-Que catering the staples of a summer fest.

But a large tent in the parking lot, with clothes hanging from its sides as volunteers organized hundreds of donations, showed that this was a different kind of community gathering. Ralph Kinnel, an HOA board member and event organizer, said the group wanted to give residents the space to grieve but also to show the community’s support. “It’s going to get better in time,” he said. Kinnel, who lives in the neighborhood, said when he came home from work Monday, neighbors yelled from the road to turn back. “I thought it was a mass shooting, I didn’t know what it was,” he said. Cynthia Henry, with Tabernacle of Praise Missionary Baptist Church, was one of the dozens of volunteers working on the hot summer day directing donations and assisting victims. She said the groups were accepting any and all donations. “This is our neighborhood,” she said. “We are just giving back.” The donation tent quickly filled with tables of water bottles, bags of ice, diapers, menstrual hygiene products, toiletries and piles of clothing that continued to grow into the afternoon. Hundreds of shoes were laid out, from winter boots to children’s Crocs, and dozens of paper sacks contained school supplies. Cars rolled up for hours as people dropped off whatever they could. Balch Springs City Council member Marie Tedei said the donations were “coming from every corner” of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Local vendors and charities such as Sharing Life Community Outreach also set up stations to provide resources, nonperishable food and even Star Wars comic books for kids. Kinnel said future donations can be directed to the Opal J. Smith Food Pantry in Balch Springs.