Hearing that your house is on fire is horrible. Hearing the next day that the few rooms still standing also caught fire is unfathomable.
When Jeannine Lake heard the news, all she could say was, "Are you kidding?"
The owner of Grandma Betty's Ice Cream Shop said she and her husband, Aaron, received a call while they were at their 15th wedding anniversary dinner that their house was on fire. They were told later that night the fire was due to an electrical malfunction, and the situation was contained.
The fire started Nov. 6. That night, the Lakes were thankful that at least a few rooms were salvageable, even though the remaining rooms had water and smoke damage.
The next morning, Aaron Lake sat his wife down to tell her that something was still smoldering underneath of the house, and the fire was reignited.
She said what was left of her and her husband's house was burnt down completely.
The Lakes also had a house guest who had been staying with them who lost everything. Georedt Huggins, 23, had been staying with the Lakes off and on for about a year.
"We had to accept the fact that the rest of it was gone," she said. "The only thing is that obviously we didn't know it was going to burn down the rest of the way, and there was two chests of pictures that were in the garage in the part that had been saved [in the first fire] that we thought was saved."
HELPING HANDS
Lake said her neighbors did what the could to help.
"As we were sitting there with our neighbors watching the house burn. [Todd and Vickie Trowbridge] literally went to their house, [were] on the phone and made this reservation at a local hotel so we could have a place to stay for the next few nights on them," she said. "Then our other neighbors, Carol and Dick Brock, gave us money just out of their pocket."
A week later, Lake is looking forward to what is going to happen to her life and non-for-profit business now that she and her husband have lost essentially everything.
Finding people to look through what is left of her home and to help keep her business going hasn't been a problem for Lake. People from the Muncie and Ball State communities have contributed.
Her first plan was to cut the hours of business at Grandma Betty's. Even though this would result in a loss of income in a time when they needed it most, she said she wouldn't be able to keep the business open at its usual hours.
On Friday, Chris McBride, president of Men of Color, called Lake to say that about 15 to 20 Ball State students wanted to volunteer to work at Grandma Betty's for free until Lake is able to keep the business's regular hours.
McBride said members from Men of Color, Kappa Alpha Psi and Delta Sigma Theta will be volunteering for at least the next three weeks, but they will volunteer for as long as Lake needs.
He said helping out the Lakes was not a difficult decision for him.
"The Lakes have always been very supportive in any endeavor I've been involved in, not only for me, but as far as Men of Color, as far as Kappa Alpha Psi, as far as anybody in Muncie," he said. "They've been there to help everybody else so now that they need help, it is our job to step up and help them."
Lake said the ice cream shop hosts fundraisers for various groups in the community about two to three times a month. McBride said the Lakes are known for helping people.
"Their children are adopted," McBride said. "They are always helping out at the church. Any effort to help out the community, they will back up 100 percent. The Lakes will give their last to make sure everybody else is okay."
Lake said the Ball State volunteers will be working for free in shifts of 2 to 4 hours each day. Her current employees are also donating their time until the Lakes are financially stable.
"That literally just humbled me that they would do that for us," she said. "Some of these kids we've just met since we opened in May, but they've taken time out of their day to make sure that we are okay."
‘LIKE FAMILY'
Some of the Ball State students, Grandma Betty's employees and even customers spent time at Lake's house on Saturday morning to see if they could find anything salvageable in what was left of their home.
"Someone told me that sometimes, you think you may have lost everything, but maybe you'll find a ring or something in all of the soot and the ashes," Lake said.
Gunnar Ingolfsson, a Grandma Betty's customer, said Lake has a close relationship with her patrons.
"We feel like family, because that is how she treats us basically," he said.
During a couple hours of searching, some furniture and a few pictures were found that the family will take to their next home. Lake said having so many people at her house made her happy and reminded her of one reason she loved her house.
"I love being around people, and I enjoy family and friends, which is one of the hallmarks of our home," she said. "Since it was so large in terms of having space, if we had a family reunion there, we didn't feel like we had to leave at any certain time."
Lake lost pictures of her mother, for whom the ice cream shop is named. Lake said one thing that she would have saved if possible is a poem her mother wrote for her when she graduated from high school.
"I always had it right next to my desk in my room," she said "It was kind of hard losing that. I don't know why I never photocopied it ... But my husband said that it probably would have been burnt up with everything else too."
The Lakes saved for a long time to move into the house because they wanted their first home to be the big home they would live in forever. Lake said she and her husband will leave the future to their faith.
"We really loved so it was the end of something, but I also feel like it is the start of something that I believe that God is going to make even better," she said. "Even though I'm in a situation in which I don't understand, I do trust God so I know that he is with us and I know that things are going to work out."
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