Members of the Leesburg, Virginia, community are using music to provide healing and comfort for families affected by a devastating fire.
On June 6, flames tour through a building on historic King Street.
The building housed three apartments and several businesses, including longtime staple Caulkins Jewelers.
The apartments were left charred, and everything inside was destroyed.
Randy Hawks lived there with his wife and her mother. The family wasn’t home at the time.
“The biggest loss was our pets,” Hawks said. "We had a dog and two cats that perished in the fire.”
It wasn’t only the folks living in the building who were affected by the fire. It also affected those working there.
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Stanley Caulkins has run Caulkins Jewelers since 1962. At 89, he has to look for a new space for his precious business. The smoke and water damage was too severe.
“Fortunately my insurance company will pay my girls’ salaries, pay my rent, pay to relocate,” Caulkins said.
But Hawks can’t fall back on insurance.
“I’m looking for a place to live," he said. "I’m apartment hunting now, and everything will work out.”
“They desperately need help," said Cerphe of Music Planet Radio. "These are people without insurance. They lost everything in the world they owned including pets."
He’s helping to host a June 18 benefit concert. Money raised will help the families displaced.
“I’m blown away by it,” Hawks said. "The whole community’s just been amazing. It’s been far more than I’d expect from any community. My friends, people I don’t even know have been reaching out to me.”
