VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A Virginia Beach man said he has many to thank for helping his family after his home caught fire on Wednesday, Dec. 20.
“So grateful that they showed me what it’s really like to care about people,” Don Wilburn said.
On Wednesday morning, Wilburn was met with flames in his home. He told 10 On Your Side that, thankfully, his family made it out, saying he and his brother had to crawl on their hands and knees.
“The heat was so great it knocked me back about three feet into my bathroom, took me off my feet,” Wilburn said.
However, he said it wasn’t long until support started flowing in, first from the fire department, and then from his neighbors, who offered him a place to sleep, shower and whatever else he might need. Support also hasn’t stopped coming from his son’s workplace.
Brandon Wilburn burned his hands making it out of the home and was taken to the hospital.
The Rustic Spoon made a GoFundMe to help out their employee and have already raised over $5,000.
“He said we’re going to buy him a new wardrobe from top to bottom and he said we want to do that and he said we want to run a GoFundMe for him so that we can accumulate some money to give to him, so he doesn’t have to feel like he needs to hurry to come back,” Wilburn said.
Most of all Wilburn said he’s grateful he and his family are alive.
“I thank the Lord God,” Wilburn said. “I know he woke me up because if it’d been 10 minutes longer, we wouldn’t be standing here.”
Click here to go to Brandon Wilburns GoFundMe.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.
