Benefit set for Aug. 30 for Albion family whose house burned in fire
The Pate family – sisters Maia, left, and Eowyn with their parents, Angelo and Ondrea. There will be a benefit on Aug. 30 at the Elks Lodge in Albion from noon to 6 p.m.
ALBION – There will be a benefit on Aug. 30 for an Albion family who has been displaced from their home after a fire on June 20.
Angelo and Ondrea Pate and their two daughters, Eowyn and Maia, are currently staying with Ondrea’s father Richard Brackenbury in Waterport.
The Pate residence on West Academy Street was damaged in an early morning fire. The cupola on the house burned and flames spread inside the home. It is a total loss.
Mrs. Pate said the family is awaiting action from their insurance company, but they were told it could take a year.
“We’re still in limbo,” she said today. “We’re taking it one day at a time.”
The family would like to stay in Albion so Eowyn can finish her senior year and Maia, an incoming freshman, can also graduate from Albion.
During the fire, Ondrea’s daughter Felicia was also in the house with her four children. They were visiting from the state of Alabama and have since returned.
Noreen Dixon and her sister Donna Halladay are organizing the Aug. 30 benefit. The Pates were great neighbors to their mother, Marguerite, checking in on her frequently, and responding in the middle of the night if she needed help.
“They have been so great to my mother,” Dixon said today. “They would do so much for her, and take her calls at all hours.”
The benefit at the Elks Lodge includes beef on wick dinners for $10, raffles, a Chinese auction and a candy bar. There will also be live music with the event outside at the pavilion as well as inside. There will also be take-outs available. Organizers are preparing for 500 dinners.
“They have pretty much lost everything,” Dixon said. “It’s a horrible thing to go through.”
For more on the benefit, click here.
Photo by Tom Rivers: The Pate family’s home on West Academy Street was badly damaged in a fire on June 20.
