YORKSHIRE, N.Y. — Sixteen days later, and what happened at 3825 Creek Road in Yorkshire still doesn’t seem fair to Gina Wright.
It was just after 2 a.m. on Sept. 6, and Wright, an EMT, was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital with 18-year-old James Cook beside her, who had just lost his mother, father, and two little sisters in a house fire.
The fire started in the home’s kitchen, and only James was able to exit the house safely. The Erie County Medical Examiner's Office has identified three of the four victims as Faith M. Cook, 12, Tonya S. Cook, 15, and Kristina M. Kipfer, 36.
“We were just a few minutes outside the hospital, and he looked at me and said, ‘Hey, what am I going to do? My family's gone,’ ” Wright said. “We hugged. It was a couple minutes, and I just said, ‘We got you. We got you.’ ”
Wright traded her EMT uniform for her presidential role with the Tri-County Kiwanis Club, gathering support from small businesses across Western New York to throw fundraisers like the one they held Sunday at Arcade Lanes, featuring live band performances.
Wright said over the past two weeks, they’ve been able to raise over $30,000 for James, with the goal of raising enough to send him to college.
She said they’ve received calls all across the region and some from as far as California and Texas.
A local family even took him into their home in the process.
“What happened was nothing short of a miracle,” Wright said. “It was hundreds of people within hours.”
James was in attendance at Sunday’s fundraiser. He said while it’s still too soon to talk about what happened to his family, he’s more than ready to talk about what his community has done for him.
“I lost everything in that fire and having all this support and people bless me with things that I lost, it's overwhelming, and I love it,” he said.
Sixteen days ago James thought he lost his family for good, but now he knows he’s gained another.
“Just because my family's not here, they'll always be here in my heart, and that's all that matters,” James said. “You only live once on this earth. I skipped death once, so I'm going to do as much as I can and give back to my community, because they gave to me.”
To support James, you can write a check to the Tri-County Kiwanis Club or you can Venmo @Jamie-Emerling.
There will also be a fundraiser for James on Nov. 16 at The Annex WNY in Chaffee. There will be a memorial service for the family from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and a carnival-themed fundraiser following the service until 7 p.m.