Donations, support pour in for family in Kane house fire

People in south-central Manitoba are stepping up to help theFroesefamily, who lost four children in a house fire early Wednesday morning.

Four boys, who were between nine and 15years old, died in the blaze, which started at around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday in the community of Kane.

• Farmhouse fire claims lives of 4 Manitoba brothers
• TIMELINE | Fire deaths in Manitoba

Police said the children's 34-year-old mother was able to escape with three other children.

The children's father and mother are in hospital in Winnipeg, according to family members.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Local churches were packed with people praying for the family on Wednesday night, as many came to grips with the tragedy and thought of ways they can help.

Ralph Groening, the reeve for the Rural Municipality of Morris, says individuals and groups have already been responding to the tragedy.

"There is a home that has already been offered. It will be made available in the event that the family chooses to take advantage of the offer," he said.

"So we do have it; it's a firm commitment by a local church."

Credit union accepting cash donations

Access Credit Union in nearby Lowe Farm, Man., has set up an account for donations to help the family.

The RM's chief administrative officer, Larry Driedger, said donations are being accepted at any branch of the Access Credit Union.

Cheques for the "Kane Fire Victims" account should be made out to Access Credit Union.

Donations can also be mailed to:

Access Credit Union
Lowe Farm Branch
Box 265
Lowe Farm, MB
R0G 1E0

Crowdfundingcampaign

Meanwhile, aGoFundMecrowdfundingcampaign called"Help theFroeseFamily"has raised at least$4,300 toward its goal of $50,000 as of 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Tammy Peters, who started the campaign, told CBC News she has known the children's parents for about 18 years andher three children went to school with the boys who died in the fire.

"I started the fundraising page because I know that this family is going to be in need of financial help," she said Wednesday night.

"There's not much we can do for them emotionally only time can fix that but financially, I think we can all pull together as a community and help them with the burden that they're going to have in paying for funeral expenses for four children and rebuilding their lives, because they lost everything."

Peters said while she doesn't know the family very well, she felt compelled to help.

"I can't even begin to imagine the pain that they feel," she said.

Peters's mother, Sarah Reimer, said she drove the four boys Bobby, 15, Timmy, 12, Danny, 10, and Henry, 9 to and from school in her bus every day for the past three years.

"They were awesome boys. They were boys. They were roughnecks, and they were definitely country boys," she said.

"Very, verytraumatic.I loved those kids. They were my kids every day. My school bus kids are my kids."

Reimer said she drove the school bus to the Froese family house at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday and found it burned to the ground. At the next stop, a student told her the four boys did not survive the blaze.

"I cried the rest of the way to school," Reimer said.

Donate Love accepting non-perishables

A charity called Donate Love is collecting donations of non-perishable food items in Morden and Winkler, Man.

Denise Thiessen, the group's co-president, told CBC News that the response has been overwhelming so far, with calls coming in from Winnipeg, Steinbach, Gretna and La Riviere.

Thiessen is asking people to hold off on clothing and furniture donations for now.

Updates on what and when to donate can be found on Donate Love's Facebook page.