In this #HeartwareStory we head to Bomoseen in Vermont. When a fire hit Gilmore Ace, the community rallied together to help the helpful place they cherished.

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My wife bernardet and I had just walked Into church my phone alarmed and it was My son and I was my son would never Generally bother me when he knows we're At church so he said Dad the building's On Fire the pager went off for the fire Department and I heard the address so I Looked it up real quick and I saw it was Gilmore Home Center so I took off from My home And was the first one on the scene when Smoke was U billing out of the building But in my brain it was a small little Fire going to be easy peasy take care of It you know and didn't ever expect that It's going to be fully engulfed of Course it was absolutely nothing anybody Could do because well it was a cement Block building and you could look in Through the windows and just see the the Flames roaring everywhere Inside unfortunately we all know the end Result that we end up losing the Building and like I said a key part of Our community everybody goes to gilmores For [Music] Something I I think Gilmore Home Center Is probably one of the most charitable Organizations in our community whether It's somebody needing Lumber to complete A a project for a Dugout for a a Baseball field or somebody looking to

Hold a fundraiser and want donations or Looking for donations they're always There no matter what it is uh they're Always there to help the community it's Not uncommon for any one of us to get a Call on a Sunday and say hey I'm in the Middle of a project this broke that Broke can you open up the store can you Help me out whatever you know I don't Think there's out of 52 weeks in a year I don't think there's probably a handful Of times that one of us is not opening Up the store for something you know on a Sunday the very next morning when we Came to just kind of stand around and Not know what was going on um a c Customer called and said I need 2x4s up On the lake can you deliver and we said Of course we can they're outside you Know they weren't touched and we loaded Up our first load took a picture of that And we were Delivering 14 hours after the fire I Mean we were very fortunate that we had This building over here and and Fortunately the lumber yard was not Touched at all so we knew we had that at Least to get started and then we Immediately started in here changing Things over to get in at least your Basic supplies and everyday popular Items that people would need and and Just carry on from there my name is John And I am the post manager for CPP and

Fellows American Legion Post 50 here in Castleton uh Gilmore's uh Hardware is Our neighbor right across the street and On uh in January they experienced a Devastating fire and our Post uh was very happy to help out on The day of the fire and also in uh Coordinating with the Cashel and fire Department and providing a breakfast for The community where all of the funds Were donated to Gilmore's home center It's cuz gilmores have gave so much to This community over the years and like I Said any time they were there for us it Was our turn to give Back they give to the community in many Many ways monetarily Supplies uh discounts whatever it takes To help people in the community so when It came time to support gilmores the Community gave back you know the people Just kept coming and kept coming and People who couldn't stop for the Breakfast wanted to stop and make Donations by the end of the day we had Fed 767 people breakfast uh here at the post Which is is an an an amazing an amazing Amount of people to come through here And have breakfast and uh it was a great Event a couple thousand people is all There really is in the community But to see that outpouring of the Community coming back after all the to

Me it was more the we're always out in The community giving things out to the Communities to see that reciprocation to See it come back in the way that it did Was just amazing what I couldn't believe Was there was so many people I didn't Know and that took time out of their day To come and donate to us and to help us Out when we were down you know like We've always tried to help anybody else In the community that's trying to raise Money for you know any cause they [Music] Are