FRIENDSHIP, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Town of Friendship is rushing to its neighbors’ aid with hundreds of donations and a temporary art sculpture supporting the families displaced by Thursday’s apartment fire.
A Thursday morning fire destroyed a Depot Street apartment building in this small town of about 800 people.
All residents made it out safely, but Friendship Fire Chief Nick Clark told me seven families, which make up about two dozen people, were displaced.
Now their community is looking to help get them back on their feet.
Thanks to the town’s library director Sarah Trumpp, the library community room was filled with piles of donated clothing of all sizes for the people impacted.
“Most rural communities in this area have each other’s backs 100% when times are tough,” Trumpp said. “It doesn’t matter where you are at politically or socially, they will step in every single time.”
Snow sculptor Eric Jones, who you may know from his several snow sculptures of Buffalo Bills players at Canalside and Highmark Stadium, donated his time to make a town monument of his own, the image of a firefighter, honoring the first responders that helped all the residents of this apartment make it outside safely.
“We are all Western New Yorkers, so I wanted to come create something for them, so this is my contribution,” Jones said. “We have to remember the people who keep us safe. What a great opportunity to remember our first responders.”
The library is no longer accepting clothing donations, but Trumpp tells me they’re working on starting a donation fund for the displaced families soon.
