A D.C. mother and her six young children lost everything in an apartment fire in Anacostia on New Year’s Day.
Despite the fire, Gabby Crumpton and her six kids are doing their best to brighten their days.
“No one’s gonna do it how I’m gonna do it, so I gotta constantly tell myself, ‘You’re gonna be OK,’” Crumpton said.
The fire took place on Douglass Road SE Monday night. Huge flames reached toward the sky.
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“Mom mode was like, get them out of there,” Crumpton said. “It’s time for you all to go.”
“My kids left out of there with just the clothes on their back,” she said. “No shoes, no nothing.”
She and her kids moved into a hotel in Clinton, Maryland, but she said the apartment complex is only paying for it through Monday. After that, they’ll likely move to a shelter.
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Making things more difficult, Crumpton’s son Za’kari needs a feeding tube because of medical problems.
“Having six kids and going through what we’re going through right now is very hard,” she said. “I feel like I’m on my last leg.”
Crumpton has shared her story online, and people have donated clothes and supplies. An online fundraiser has raised more than $10,000.
“Very grateful, very thankful and highly blessed,” Crumpton said. “I gotta give it to the man upstairs, God, ‘cause without him, I don’t know where me and my kids would be, honestly.”
She said fire investigators told her an electrical malfunction caused the fire.
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