A Review of the Week Since the BTW Fire
Fire crews were still on the scene of last week’s fire at Montgomery’s Booker T. Washington Magnet School’s Building C Sunday afternoon, pouring water on hot spots that had risen up. Students at BTW will begin classes Monday morning at the old Hayneville Road Elementary School location. Volunteers, like Vickey Matthews, say they were in shock after learning of the fire.
“I was just shocked, because i saw it on the tv and was real shocked about it,” Matthews said. “I was kind of, you know, disheartened, because it’s the beginning of the school year. Kids cant start on time.”
Volunteers have been preparing the Hayneville building and gathering supplies to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Support for the students and school system has flooded in. Other schools have donated desks and other equipment. Lowe’s stores donated $5,000 in supplies and labor. Volunteers have been working with BTW faculty and staff to help prepare for the school’s first day.
“It says that when times are tough, people will get together and do whatever it is they need to do,” Matthews said. “Just everybody getting together, everybody having faith and knowing that when you need to come together, you come together.”
Most of the students’ art work was destroyed in the fire. But the community has come together to help those students with the loss.
“I just want to help, i just want to do whatever i can,” Matthews said. “The kids are important.”
Montgomery fire officials have all but ruled out arson. They say they may never know what caused the fire because the destruction was so thorough..
If you would like to donate supplies or money, you can find links in similar stories on AlabamaNews.net
