On Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012, a struggling, single mother and her two children lost their home in a tragic fire. The victims: Becky Viers, single mother of the house, and her two daughters, Hope Cousino, 13, and 25-year-old, Alicia Viers, who was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.
According to family member Pietrina Beckner, a building sub and competitive cheer coach at MHS, the family didn’t have any heat at the time of the fire, and the mother has a bad heart condition, which recently caused her to have a heart attack in October.
Beckner said that on the day of the fire, Cousino was sitting in her bedroom babysitting her seven-month old cousin. She said she smelled something weird coming from the hallway, that it smelled like a hospital or some kind of fumes. Cousino left the bedroom with her cousin to tell her mom that she smelled something funny, when she turned around, her entire room was in flames.
The family immediately ran out of their home grabbing nothing on the way. Once they reached the yard, Beckner said their whole house was engulfed in flames.
After the fire was put out the family searched what remained to be their home. According to the family, the only two things that survived the fire was a cross and old family pictures of the children’s grandmother. Becky Viers also has two cats and one dog. She said both animals made it out of the house safe along with the family.
Beckner said she, with the support of Monroe Public Schools, is helping with the fundraising and working with the schools to help her family with what they had lost. There are also developing plans to hold a spaghetti dinner to help the Viers get back on their feet and find a new home.
“When you’re a teenager, the first thing you’re going to worry about is your clothes,” said Beckner. “It’s hard to feel normal after you’ve lost everything so suddenly.”
If you would like to help the Viers family, there is a bank account open for anyone to deposit money in the account. It’s located at 5^th 3rd bank under the name of Guy, and the account number is, 9577.