Category: Fundraisers

 Barrington residents regularly reach out to us with news about events or stories of interest happening in their neighborhoods. We were particularly moved when Barrington Village resident and mother-of-two, Jennifer Vakharia, recently called to let us in on her neighbor’s struggle to rebuild after their young family’s dream home was destroyed by fire last month.
I heard great emotion in Jennifer’s voice when she told me about the Zemaitis family’s incredible determination to rebuild after flames reduced their home to nothing but walls and ashes.  Neighbors feel so compelled to help the family through this difficult time, they created a fund to raise just $500, hoping that every penny will help.  And Jennifer put pen to paper to share the story, in her own words, for the first in a new series of posts called Neighborhood News here at 365Barrington.com.
Zemaitis Family Starts to Rebuild 
by Jennifer Vakharia, Barrington Village Resident & Mother-of-Two
Recently a family in our community had a devastating and life-changing house fire. They live two doors down from me, near Grove Avenue Elementary School. They just moved to the neighborhood last year and have three lovely boys ages 3, 8 and 9 years old.  The two older boys go to Grove School. Their dad built the coolest backyard treehouse ever, complete with bridge, slide and rock climbing wall, and the boys were often playing outside. This past winter their dad also built an ice rink in their backyard so the boys could enjoy their true passion– hockey. It has also been a real pleasure to watch Andrius and Aiste Zemaitis tirelessly renovate the house themselves this past year.
On April 8th, Aiste was staining doors in her home. When she was done, she threw the dirty rags in a garbage can in the garage. While playing with her youngest son in the backyard that afternoon, she received a phone call from a neighbor saying her garage was on fire. As she came around the front of the house, she saw the flames whipping around and felt the heat……