A fire Monday afternoon on Madison’s east side damaged a newly established supportive housing complex and temporarily displaced a formerly homeless family of six.
The building belongs to the Catalyst Project, a new nonprofit that provides permanent housing for single mothers and their children, housed in the former Schoep’s Ice Cream factory on the corner of Ohio and Lafollette avenues. Volunteers have been in the process of renovating the factory, which was later converted into a duplex, to house four families.
The fire, which started in a basement laundry room, was likely caused by improper venting and damaged one side of the duplex, Catalyst Project founder Susan Donahoe tells Isthmus in an email. The tenants, 24-year-old Candace Howard and her five children, were not home when the fire started, but returned to find smoke coming from the basement. Howard called 911, and a crew from the Madison Fire Department was on the scene within five minutes.
“A neighbor lady came over (we didn't even get her name!) and held babies and brought water and snacks over for the family,” Donahoe writes. “She must have stayed five hours.”
No one was hurt, but the damage to the home was extensive, putting the plumbing, kitchen and bathroom out of commission for at least a month, Donahoe says. The family also lost a number of personal and household items as well, and at the time of the fire, Catalyst Project had not yet acquired rental insurance to cover those losses.
Chris Collins
Howard and her children (a 9-year-old, an 8-year-old, a 4-year-old and 10-month-old twins) are receiving disaster relief assistance from the American Red Cross. The family has funding to stay in a motel room through at least Friday, says Donahoe, who is scrambling to raise funds to put the family up in an extended stay hotel for at least a month. Despite the chaos, Howard was able to register her three oldest children for school at Lowell Elementary. The children also need back-to-school shoes and clothes.
For those who would like to donate to the family and the Catalyst Project, the nonprofit has an online wish list as well as a PayPal account. Donations can also be mailed to The Catalyst Project, Inc. 4207 Claire St., Madison, Wis. 53716
