Shipping Containers Help Family Who Lost Everything in House Fire

Gateway Container Sales supports local family whose possessions were destroyed in a house fire.

On October 20th, 2014 the Axam family of Alkoomie in Wynumm suffered a tragic loss as their house was burned down, losing almost all of their belongings except for a coin collection and some family photos. This family of Mum, Dad, Son, two Daughters and three Grandkids were all sharing the family home together when the incident occurred.

Since the fire the local community has rallied around to support them, including local shipping container business – Gateway Container Sales & Hire. Originally the family was only able to accept money, perishable goods and gift cards due to restrictions from their insurance, but were later able to accept donations of household goods that are so critical in rebuilding their life and returning to normalcy.

Thanks to the influx of public support, they now required something to store all of these donations from friendly community members. Gateway Container Sales & Hire provided them with a 20 foot shipping container, free of charge for up to 8 weeks to securely store their belongings, which will be located at the Bayside Police Youth Citizens Club.

Gateway were contacted by Constable Christina Bowden, who had originally tried to source a container from a competitor – but was not able to contact them, contacting Gateway instead. Gateway was only too happy to oblige, offering the family eight weeks free of charge, even though the container will only be required for three weeks due to them being approved for a rental house.

“We understand that in emergency situations, time is of the essence and a quick response is essential. We pride ourselves on timely delivery, so helping out with the recovery effort in a very short time frame was no problem for our team,” said Roy Finnegan, Gateway Container Sales.

According to Constable Christiana, this provided the family with great security and “Roy was great, very obliging and helped us out straight away”.

The family would like to thank all of the emergency services and public who have been so generous, Gateway included. To contribute towards the family please visit their Facebook group – Alkoomie Street Fire Appeal.

About PCYC Bayside:

The Police-Citizens Youth Club Bayside is located in Lota and is a Not for Profit organisation that aims to enhance our community through youth development. This is encouraged through a caring environment with a wide range of activities for all ages. PCYC Bayside was first established in 1966 as Wynnum. Since opening our doors, we have almost 1,900 members and average over 6,000 attendances a month. For more information visit their Facebook page here.