Hollygrove neighbors flocked to LaVerne Pinkney’s location one by one on Saturday to see how wandering New Year’s Eve fireworks destroyed a pickup truck in the driveway and set a fire on fire that severely damaged the home. More importantly, they came to help.
Pinkney, a 57-year-old widow recovering from spinal surgery, could not stay at home. The power is off. The fire left holes in the side of the structure. Much of the attic was burned.
The annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display across the Mississippi River was canceled this year, but the sky was certainly not dark.
But she and her daughter, Whitney, are back at the family homestead in Gen. Ogden Street to wipe off some of the debris and broken glass left on the front floor after the truck exploded in the windows along the driveway.
Before the cattle were done, the first visitors arrived. Some were friends. Some, including New Orleans City Council members Helena Moreno and Joe Giarrusso, were public officials. Many were merely strangers with kind hearts.
“You need it more than I do,” said Lucia Butler, who grew up near Edinburgh Street, when she and her sister, Ira Jackson Kelly, handed a tearful Pinkney the emergency cash they had in their wallets. The women hugged her goodbye. “I’m going to come back and see you, honey,” Butler said.
Lois Fisher, 71, also stops in and signs up to see how she can follow up. “I’m just a neighbor in the neighborhood trying to help out,” Fisher said.
A few minutes later, Alex Henderson, 67, a member of the Hollygrove Neighbors Association, and Charlie Mills, 82, a retired plumber who lives a few blocks away, arrive here. They introduced themselves and showed compassion and noticed the worst damage. The side of the house where the truck turned into a fireball around 8:30 p.m. Thursday
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Thanks to a neighbor who saw the fire and slammed the front door, everyone escaped safely inside, although Pinkney’s pregnant daughter-in-law, who was sleeping, inhaled smoke. Pinkney still does not know how she is going to rebuild, as she had no property insurance.
Neighbors said they are determined to assist her. “A lot of this can be saved,” Mills said as he and Henderson examined an intact layer of wood that survived beneath a molten layer of white vinyl.
From the sidewalk comes another voice signifying Mills. “Is that Mr. Charlie?” I’m Brandon, the son of Charles Collins, ”said Brandon Collins, 37, as he walked into the garden to take a closer look at a group of electric power lines that have now been charred together.
Mills grinned. “The electricians showed up,” he said. He has known Collins ‘uncle, father and cousin – all electricians – since Collins’ birth.
Pinkney leaned on a siding of her front porch and listened to the visitors in her garden. Tears ran down her face. “My neighbors have come, and I’m so grateful,” she said.
“This is the worst thing that could happen at the beginning of a new year,” Giarrusso said of the fire as he stood on the porch sending e-mails to municipal departments. But the outpouring of support? He said it was similar to what he saw after Hurricane Katrina. “People are asking, ‘What can we do together to help?'”
Pinkney nodded, too choking to speak. As she looked to her right from the porch, she could see her handsome 87-year-old neighbor, Doris Booth, swaying and kissing her.
Booth first met Pinkney at the age of 4 when Pinkney’s parents, Lawrence and Violet Pinkney, moved into the modest white house. When the fire raged Thursday, Booth and a number of other neighbors were standing outside with her while waiting for what they said was 10 or 15 minutes for 911 to answer their calls, and were concerned that the whole block would burn down.
On Saturday morning, Booth took Pinkney’s living room rug to her home and spread it over a fence, where she scrubbed and washed away the smoky odor. “And her curtains are in my washing machine,” Booth said as she sat down on her front step to watch the parade of neighbors moving to Pinkney’s place with hugs and offerings.
“That’s what we do,” Booth said. “Here in New Orleans, when trouble comes, we help each other. This is what we do. ”
Donations to help Pinkney can be made on this GoFundMe account.