APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Veterans in the Fox Valley are helping one of their own after a devastating house fire a few weeks ago.
25-year-old Austin Prudom, who served four years in the Navy, lost almost everything except his car and the clothes on his back in the fire.
He had only owned his home in Kaukauna for about 10 months before the fire broke out in his bedroom while he was at work.
“There was smoke damage throughout the whole house, enough so the way the insurance company is saying it, they’re going to be tearing most of it down,” said Prudom.
The fire department initially estimated the damage at $80,000, but Prudom says his insurance company has the total higher.
“Everything in there was pretty unsalvageable,” said Prudom. “I wasn’t really able to pull much out of it.”
Not long after the fire, members of Appleton’s American Legion Post 38 heard about what happened and knew they had to help.
“It’s the American story, right?” said Jan Hoffman, the legion post commander. “He serves his country, he goes to work, he has two jobs, finally buys a house and this tragic incident happened. We are just thankful we could help him.”
Post leaders presented Prudom with a check for $2,000 at their monthly meeting Monday night. The money was collected at a prior meeting and at a concert.
“We know he has insurance, but insurance takes a while to pay,” said Hoffman. “We wanted to get money in his hand immediately, so that he could get everyday things to continue living.”
“It’s honestly amazing,” said Prudom. “After it happened, I didn’t really know what I was going to do. Then the outreach from everyone, the American Legion of course, that was super surprising that a group of people that I never interacted with before reached out and said they wanted to help.”
Prudom says the help will go a long way, as he is currently renting a house and replacing everything he lost.
“I couldn’t appreciate them any more for it,” said Prudom.
In addition to the donation, the Legion post paid for Austin’s first year membership into the organization.
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