NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – Donations have poured in for a New Braunfels family whose mobile home was seriously damaged in a fire after their story aired on KSAT-12.
The fire happened before Thanksgiving, and while it did not destroy the mobile home itself, nearly all of the Holler family's furniture and belongings were damaged or destroyed.
But Jason Holler, who has five children, said KSAT viewers and others from the community have responded with offers of help, money and other donations.
"It's such a blessing right now," Holler said. "(Donors) are so open and friendly. You know, it's really cool. And some of these folks (are) driving from San Antonio. They're driving from everywhere. We've had money, we've had items, some clothing materials, then some really thoughtful stuff (donated)."
One of the biggest donations came from a local car dealership, ValMark Chevrolet.
Stephanie Medina, who co-wrote a letter sent to KSAT-12 soliciting help for the family, works at ValMark and got all the employees to contribute to help the family.
A ValMark car pulled up to the Holler house Monday morning.
"Good morning, I'm Mark Stevenson," ValMark's vice president and general manager said to Holler as he got out of the car.
Stevenson told Holler that the dealership had matched what employees donated and the check totaled $3,500.
"God, I love you guys! God bless you. Thank you," Holler said, hugging Stevenson and others. "We've got materials, we're getting that all together. This is definitely going to help get it together."
Stevenson said he was inspired by his employees' willingness to give back to the community.
"Any time you have that compassion, love for the people around you, it's contagious and it's not something you go and talk about, it's something that you just go and do," Stevenson said. "They called, and she (Medina) came to me and she said, 'Can we help?' And I said, 'Absolutely.' So it just started from the ground and that's the way it's supposed to be in a community, right? So they did their part and the least I could do was double their money."
Medina said she was surprised by the support she got at her workplace.
"It's awesomely amazing," Medina said. "It tells me a lot about my coworkers, and I'd like to thank them for, like, so much. I can't believe everybody got together, and it's super awesome, and I'm really amazed with the company I work for."
Now Holler can finish rebuilding his family's home, knowing that the whole community helped.