Kimberly Jones and her family will never forget Nov. 24 when in the middle of the night their South County home caught fire and burned down.

Kimberly said, “I just remember running out of the house, screaming at the top of my lungs for help from anyone, begging them to call 911. I made sure my family was all safe and then it hit me that we were going to lose our house.”

Despite the tragedy of losing a home, the Jones family has gained a new appreciation for their community after they came out to help the family in need.

At 1:30 a.m., a faulty extension cord, leading out to a chicken enclosure, caught fire. As the flames raced towards the back of the house they reached a propane tank and not long after the entire house was engulfed in flames.

Homeowners Kimberly and Michael Jones rushed to safety with their three children, Emily, 12, Sarah, 10, and Nicholas, 7. The family, all six chickens and the family cat, Boots, all successfully escaped the flames.

The first two weeks after the fire the family was living in a hotel room, but have since found a rental and have been staying there.

Kimberly Jones said, “Our home was completely destroyed. I was so thankful we were all okay, but there are some things we will never get back that I wish I could have saved, like kids’ art projects, family photos, a beautiful poem my daughter wrote. I regret not being able to save the memories, you know. The things that can’t be replaced. There was nothing I could do about it though. I sat and watched my own house burn down, but it is unbelievable all the support we have got since then.”

Having lost everything in the fire so close to the holidays, the Jones family was surprised, but thankful to see the entire community help them in a time of need after they had lost everything.

Kimberly’s brother, Michael Giragosian began one of the several GoFundMe pages online to help support his sister’s family. This website allows anyone to make monetary donations over the Internet. The page ended up raising just over $9,000 according to Giragosian.

He said, “All the help for my sister has been overwhelming. Up to this point I had been losing faith in people, but then all the people, people my sister doesn’t even know, were coming forward to help, it is amazing. There are so many more people out there that care than you think.”

Kimberly, tears of gratitude welling up, said, “Friends, family, schools, churches, the whole community, people I don’t even know have come forward to help me and my family. This is all so indescribable. This happened over a month ago and people are still reaching out to try and help me. It is amazing how people, a whole community, can come together. It has meant so much to me and my family.”

The Jones family has received meals, gift cards, monetary donations, clothing, and even furniture from numerous individuals and institutions. A good portion of this help came from Kimberly’s friend and coworker at Natural Essence Salon, Tammie Stewart, who began a donation drive for the family. The Salon is located 1050 Main St., East Greenwich on the Warwick line.

The longtime friend said she had a gut feeling the morning after the fire.

“I remember the morning after, watching the news on TV and just knowing. You couldn’t tell from the footage, but I had a gut feeling. I texted her asking if she was okay. I still have the text she sent back, ‘yes but the house is gone’. I called her right away,” said Stewart.

Natural Essence Salon adopts a family every year around the holidays, taking donations that are then distributed to a needy family for Christmastime. “But this year we said we can’t do it, this year we have to take care of our own family,” she said.

Throughout the day the salon has numerous visitors stopping by to drop off clothes for the family, or toys for the kids, and household goods, gift cards and food for dinners and just hugs of support to help the family get back on their feet.

Among all the Christmas decoration there are boxes all over the salon filled with wrapped Christmas gifts for the three Jones children. There are brown lunch bags filled with gift cards on the counters.

Kimberly said, “We have been living day to day, slowly piecing our lives back together, moving forward and rebuilding. I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for everything they have done for us. This has been very humbling. I am so thankful because without all this help I wouldn’t be handling this as well as I am. I just can’t express my gratitude enough.”

Tammie replied with a smile, “We have been friends for 23 years, we work together. If this happened to me I know she would do the same thing for me.”

Curtis Corner Middle School and Kingston Hill Academy, where the Jones children attend school, have made large donations to the family including a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings and handmade cards for their classmates. Kingston Hill had a pajama day where for a $1 donation students and teachers could wear pajamas and the money was donated to the family. Emily’s Media Lit class at Curtis Corners dedicated a video to the family about paying it forward that can be viewed on YouTube.

To pay it forward has now become the Jones’ mantra in dealing with the aftermath of the house fire. Having such a mass on incoming donations, the Jones family has started to donate back to the community that has so graciously come forward to help them.

Kimberly said, “We really want to pay it forward, all the help that we have received. We want to help other families that are victims of house fires. Our family has received so much that we have been donating back, giving extra clothes and food to different churches and charities.”

A few of their donations have made their way to Warwick Public Schools. Sherman Elementary held a coat drive earlier this month and the family donated the overflow of winter gear they received.

Heather Clark, a Sherman Elementary teacher, who works at Natural Essence Salon at night, said, “When Sherman was having their coat drive Kim came forward and donated the scarves, gloves, clothes, and winter jackets she had been given that she didn’t need. She is incredibly resilient. You never know what you’re going to do in a situation until you have experienced it and she has just been so strong. She is taking it one day at a time, but she keeps trying to give back after everything she has been through.”

Natural Essence Salon is also holding another drive, to “fill the pantry”. The salon is looking for canned goods, toiletries and home goods. Although some of the drive will go to helping the Jones family, both Kimberly and Tammie want to make a donation to the Rhode Island Food Bank in hopes that other families can benefit from the kindness the Jones family is receiving.

Tammie said, “It is all about paying it forward. I believe that when you do good, good comes back your way. There is so much negativity and violence today. People need to learn to pay it forward and we would be a better society for it.”

Donations can be made to the Jones’ family fund at Citizens Bank and at the “Fill the Pantry Drive” at Natural Essence Salon at 1050 Main Street East Greenwich.