One night in August, Nash Lebya had a sense that something wasn’t right at his Pueblo home.

He checked on his three sleeping children and discovered flames billowing from beneath his oldest daughter’s bed. Waking the family, he ushered everyone outside and tried to put out the fire. But it was too late, and soon their rented home was engulfed.

Lebya and Jessica Martinez, his girlfriend and mother of his children, stood stunned outside as they watched the house burn. Firefighters later determined that the fire was caused by faulty wiring, Lebya said.

“It put us back so far because we lost everything,” said Lebya, who didn’t have renter’s insurance.

Martinez, 5-year-old Jaciquine, and 20-month-old Robert were unscathed by the fire. But Lebya was treated for minor burns and 6-year-old Jenever was treated for smoke inhalation at a Pueblo hospital.

The hospital put the family in touch with the American Red Cross, Pikes Peak Chapter, which helps people who have endured financial and health problems due to such things as house fires and natural disasters by providing them lodging, clothing, food and medicine.

It’s one of 15 area charities receiving grants from The Gazette/El Pomar Empty Stocking Fund.

Lebya is a fulltime student at Pueblo Community College and Martinez is unemployed, which meant the family was nearly broke after the fire. The Red Cross in Pueblo gave them a debit card with $700 credit, which they initially used to pay for a motel, groceries and clothes.

The family found another Pueblo house to move into, and the Red Cross paid their first month’s rent of $600.

Lebya is overjoyed by the assistance from the Red Cross.

“If not for them, my family would be lost,” he said.

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