DECATUR, Ga. — Neighbors are stepping up to help an 82-year-old woman who lost everything when a fire destroyed her home.
Annie Robinson is known as “Will” to her friends and family.
Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen was on Kelly Lake Drive in DeKalb County, where the walls of Robinson’s home in Decatur are still standing, but little inside the home could be saved after a fire broke out on Christmas night.
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“I ran out in my pajamas, and Friday night, it was cold,” Robinson said.
The fire started in Robinson’s kitchen. The 82-year-old loves to cook and prepares dinners on Sunday for her church members and sister churches.
“They come and purchase plates to help supplement her income,” her niece, Shonda Favors, told Petersen.
The 82-year-old has lived her life with a simple motto: be kind to people.
“It makes my heart glad,” Robinson said. “I feel so good doing that, helping somebody.”
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Robinson is staying with her sister for now, but people in her neighborhood are trying to help in any way they can.
“We’re a very close-knit neighborhood,” neighbor Yvonna Jove said. “We try to stick together. When one needs help, we’re there to help them.”
Most people in the neighborhood are of modest means, but they are giving what they can, some money here, some clothes there. They’ve started a GoFundMe to let people who don’t live on this block know there’s a kind lady always helping others who could now use a little help herself.
By Thursday night, the campaign had topped $2,000.
“It means the world to me,” Robinson said. “My heart is full. I’m so happy. I really am.”
You can donate to help HERE.
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