ATLANTA — An Atlanta Falcons football star is helping a dozen families get back on their feet after they lost everything in a fire.
The victims say the help they’re getting couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I need two young men,” said a man who opened the back of a large U-Haul truck that pulled up to the Country Oaks apartments on Fairburn road in Southwest Atlanta.
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It looked like someone was moving in with all the furniture several men unloaded from the truck.
“We have chairs, beds, sofas, tables. Just everything,” tenant Laquitta Lewis told Channel 2′s Tom Jones.
The new furniture wasn’t for a new tenant.
It was to help 12 families who lost everything in a recent fire at the complex.
“We just heard the alarms going off and all I did was tell my kids ‘let’s go,’” Lewis recalled.
Many families had just bought school clothes and school supplies.
It all went up in flames, along with everything else they owned.
“Like I had everything in my apartment. Like I lost everything,” tenant Laura Phillips said.
The complex put them in new units.
Then Falcons star tight end Kyle Pitts and his foundation bought new furniture to help get them back on their feet.
“The Kyle Pitts Foundation called us and said ‘what can we do to help,’” Atlanta Councilwoman Andrea L. Boone said.
Several nonprofit community organizations and churches also handed out much-needed items.
“Soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes,” one nonprofit volunteer said as she stuffed bags for a tenant.
Shannon Jones with Helping The Multitudes, Inc. and ATM Medical Transport loaded an ambulance with much needed items.
“We have kitchen things. Cups, bowls, pots and pans,” she said.
Erica Wright with Project U-First set up a table with items to help the fire victims.
“We have t-shirts, underwear. We have all kinds of personal hygiene items,” she said.
The tenants were thankful, even though many had no idea who Kyle Pitts is.
“Kyle Pitts?” replied one tenant when asked about the star player.
Another said, “I don’t watch football. But I’m very appreciative.”
10-year-old Aamir Fleming said he was about to go to sleep when his fire alarm went off.
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He was all smiles as he realized he would now have school supplies and new furniture.
“It’s a blessing. When they say God makes miracles, it’s true,” he said.
Councilwoman Boone helped organize the event.
Tenants are also getting help with resumes and finding jobs.
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