Walton , Roane County , West Virginia

As members of a family continue to cope after a fire destroyed their home and nearly everything that they own, a fund has been set up to assist them.

Robin and Nikki Schoolcraft were visiting family when their trailer along Frame Road in Walton went up in flames on Sunday. Firefighters believe a propane tank exploded inside of an outbuilding, burning it down and catching their trailer on fire. The mother and daughter had recently moved there.

Donations can be made at any Poca Valley Bank location directly to the Robin Schoolcraft Fund.

This family is no stranger to Eyewitness News. For the past two years, Robin's daughter, Nikki, has saved her money to shop for our annual Tower of Toys, which provides toys for underprivileged children in our viewing area.

Clothes also can be donated for the family at the Walton Fire Department in Roane County.

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A fire ripped through a home in Roane County Sunday, leaving a family with nothing.

The family stood by and watched as their very first home went up in flames. They're a family who the community already knows because of their generous spirit, and now, they're in need of a helping hand.

“I was telling my daughter, ‘We don't have to move anymore. We actually got something we can call our own,’” said Robin Schoolcraft.

But, tragically, that dream of having their own place to call home was shattered in a matter of moments Sunday afternoon.

Firefighters believe a propane tank exploded in an outbuilding, burning it down and catching their trailer, located on Frame Road in Walton, on fire.

It was a trailer Schoolcraft recently bought, and she was using her income tax return to get it set up. She had moved in furniture and clothing she found at yard sales to make this place a home for her and her young daughter.

“It’s like we're taking ten steps forward and steps back, because we don't have anything anymore,” Schoolcraft said.

“I don't have all the stuff I used to have,” her daughter, Nikki Schoolcraft said, crying.

While Nikki is naturally overwhelmed, one of the things she's most concerned about is the money she'd been saving. But it wasn't for herself. She was saving that money for other kids.

For the past two years, this young girl has used that money to buy gifts for our Tower of Toys drive to ensure that children who are less fortunate have a merry Christmas.

“Now the money I started saving this year, I can't give to the children, because it’s all burnt up,” Nikki said.

Now this family is in need of a helping hand.

But Robin says even though they've lost everything, including cherished pictures and belongings, she remains thankful.

“Like I was telling my daughter, ‘Material things can be replaced. Thank God, we weren’t in there,’” Robin Schoolcraft said. “She said, ‘What about the suitcase?’ I said, ‘It’s all up here and in here.’”

Robin said that suitcase had pictures and other items of a son who died as a baby.

She and her daughter were at her aunt’s house nearby when the fire started.

A fund is being set up to to help the Schoolcraft family. Donations of clothing and other items can be sent by contacting the Walton Volunteer Fire Department at 304-577-6229.

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A trailer was destroyed by fire Sunday in the 12000 block of Frame Road in Walton near the Kanawha-Roane County line.

Units from Kanawha and Roane departments responded to the fires. The fire was believed to have started in a storage building and then spread to the trailer.

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