Family thankful for community support after fire destroyed their business in Ayr
CBC
Standing in front of a pile of bricks and rubble that had been their family business a day earlier, Lola Vidakovic, her sister Iva and their mother Vesna still can't believe the pizza shop is gone.
"It's heartbreaking, it's a shock," Lola Vidakovic told CBC News on Tuesday, one day after fire ripped through their building on Northumberland Street.
The flames burned through their 17-year-old family business, Ayr Village Pizza. It also destroyed Hitched Coffee and a second-floor apartment. One person was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"Just in 12 hours, from the start of the day to the end, it's not here anymore," Lola Vidakovic said, adding she has a lifetime of memories of the pizza shop.
Iva Vidakovic said they were thankful no one was hurt.
"We're thinking of all the people that lost their homes upstairs. That's our main focus ... You can rebuild the building, but you can't replace people," Iva Vidakovic said.
Lexi Ambrose was one of the tenants who was living in the building.
"The fire has taken everything I own and my home ... I feel overwhelmed," she said in a written statement to CBC News.
"Overwhelmed with the loss of my home and watching it burn. Overwhelmed with the loss of my things. Overwhelmed with the emotions of seeing so many people impacted," Ambrose wrote, but added she also felt "overwhelmed with the incredible support that I and the rest of the tenants have received from those closest to us and complete strangers."
She says that generosity has allowed her to purchase day-to-day essentials "so that I can live and begin to heal."
"I, like everyone else, have had belongings that are irreplaceable reduced to nothing but rubble. We haven’t had the ability to try to salvage anything, and I don’t know if we ever will. Coping with this fact has been one of the hardest parts," Ambrose said.
Ambrose's sister, Eden Stroyan, has set up an online fundraiser to help and it has already surpassed its initial fundraising goal of $5,000 to help Ambrose replace immediate essentials like clothing, household items and materials for college.
"The fire has left her starting from scratch. She lost her clothes, furniture, school supplies, personal items — everything that made her space a home," Stroyan said in the fundraiser.
"As a student preparing to graduate, this unexpected loss is overwhelming, both emotionally and financially. "
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