Youth hockey league raises $60K for Chaska family who lost home in a fire
A youth hockey association in the southwestern Twin Cities suburbs has helped raise more than $60,000 for a Chaska family who lost all of their possessions in a house fire over the weekend.
At 1:05 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 10, the Chaska Fire Department responded to a house fire on the 2000 block of Nightingale Court in Chaska, the department said.
Credit: Melissa Turtinen/Bring Me The News
Smoke could be seen billowing above Highway 212 Sunday afternoon as fire crews from several surrounding cities responded to the blaze.
The Lorenzen family of five got out safely, but their home is a total loss and the Red Cross is working with the family, the fire department said. The family dog, named Bear, died in the fire, Kacey Lorenzen, a teacher at Breakaway Academy in Chaska, posted on Facebook.
"Yesterday was a horrible day, we lost everything. Well, not everything, just all of our 'things,'" Lorenzen said in the post.
But within hours, the Chaska Chanhassen Hockey Association (CCHA) – where the three Lorenzen children play hockey – stepped up to help by starting a Go Fund Me.
"We cannot even begin to imagine what the family is going through, but our hockey family is here to support each other when the unimaginable happens," CCHA said in a post on Facebook on Monday.
As of 9:45 a.m. Tuesday – a day after the fundraiser was created – the Go Fund Me page had raised $60,702 of its $35,000 goal.
"We learned pretty fast how truly amazing our family, friends, neighbors and strangers are. (We love Chaska!) The outpouring [of] support has been overwhelming and we are so appreciative," Lorenzen said in the post. "This is a situation that I never thought we would be in, but I am going to sleep (trying!) with a full heart."
The Chaska Fire Department says the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
