The Campbell family came face to face with a nightmare Feb. 12 when a fire destroyed their home on Barters Island. However, even before the flames were out, Kristen Campbell said donations and support were coming in for her and husband Robbie. Boothbay area residents have been gathering together for the family since the blaze, including organizing donation stations and a community lunch to raise funds. 

“The amount of support, there's just no words,” said Kristen Campbell at the Feb. 17 community lunch at Brady’s. "’Thank you,’ ‘gratitude,’ ‘humbleness.’ None of these words are big enough for the amount of people that have contacted me and made sure that I was OK, and made sure that Robbie was OK, and made sure Mom was OK, and made sure that we had the essentials.”  

During the lunch, people filled a donation jar with money for the Campbells. Food for the event was provided by the Rotary Club. Boothbay Region Fire Auxiliary made backup meals. Overall, organizers said the lunch raised over $4,000. They said an anonymous philanthropist also agreed to match every donation, including those not from the lunch, doubling the support.  

The meal is only part of the efforts. Businesses including Coastal Maine Popcorn, Seacoast Redemption, First National Bank, and Hawke Motors have set up ways to donate. In addition, a gofundme page raised over $14,000 and the Lions Club will hold a benefit bingo in Gardiner March 9.  

“It's hard to even accept it, but we just appreciate it and are just so grateful and so humbled by this whole outpouring of support, not just from the community, but from people that we don't even know,” she said. “I can't even say ‘thank you’ enough. It's not even a big enough word.” 

She said she noticed the fire when she happened to open a house camera app on her phone. Although the home was destroyed, she said her family was safe. She said her family was not there, and her husband had taken the dog with him. “It was the best possible outcome for the worst possible scenario," she said.  

Tragically, she said the disaster was not new for her husband who lost his childhood home to a fire on the same lot 22 years ago. The house that burned down last week was the one that replaced what he originally lost. “My heart breaks more for him than it even does for me,” she said.   

However, she said her family has a place to live for now, and the amount of support has been incredible. She said she has received a sea of people reaching out every day since the night of the fire. Even strangers have come up, offering to pay for groceries or donate. She also has a list of people ready to work cleaning up, clearing out debris and putting the property back together.   

 “If I hadn't had a place to go, 50 people would have made sure I did,” she said. “And that's just the most amazing feeling to live in a community like that.”