In the last three weeks, 15 homes in Bowie, Maryland, have been destroyed by fires, and now, the city is rallying around those families as they try to restart their lives.
The scene outside the biggest fire, a two-alarm fire that tore through some condo units not far from the Bowie Town Center last month, destroyed 14 homes. Last week, a 15th home in the Pointer Ridge area also caught fire, sending a child to the hospital.
This week, and again next Monday, the city is asking the community to help those families out.
In particular, the city is asking for gift cards to various stores and restaurants.
“Target, Walmart, grocery stores, restaurants, anything that can help these families that have been impacted,” said Bowie City Council member Clinton Truesdale Sr. “Some of our city workers were impacted as residents.”
“A total of 15 families have been impacted,” he added. “It’s something that you’d never want to go through. Fortunately, there were no casualties. But when you lose something like this, you lose everything in a sense of everything that you’ve built. We want to ensure that [we’ll] be a part to show them the support of community.”
One donation fund was held recently. But Truesdale said city leaders and residents still wanted to do more.
“We really want to be supportive as a community,” said Truesdale. “We’re one Bowie, so we want to be supportive in that area.”
The city is collecting physical gift cards — not digital versions. The gift cards can be dropped off between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m until April 19, and again next Monday, April 22, at the City Hall ahead of another reception for the affected families.
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