Fund-raising page set up for Stoke Ash couple Dave and Sue O'Keeffe after fire ravages family home

A fund-raising page set up by the daughter of a Stoke Ash couple who were forced to flee their family home after it was ravaged by fire last week has raised almost ten times its target.

Katie O’Keeffe set up the JustGiving page on Saturday, one day after a nine-year-old boy alerted her parents, Dave and Sue O’Keeffe, to flames coming out of the roof of their home in The Street.

“I thought if we just try and do something to help them get some clothes and other possessions back then that would provide some comfort,” said the 36-year-old, who is the second eldest of the couple’s four daughters.

“I know they’re material things and they would say they don’t need them but I just think they’re such lovely, lovely people and would do anything they could to help others in this situation so I wanted the same for them.”

Despite an initial target of £500, the page has already raised almost £5,000.

“I’m so overwhelmed and so grateful. I could never have imagined that we’d be able to help my parents this much and I’m bowled over by everyone’s generosity,” she said.

The couple, along with their 26-year-old daughter Ceara and dog Maggie, escaped the fire, which started at around 4.30pm, unharmed but had to watch for more than two hours as firefighters battled the blaze.

“They’ve lived there for a long time and it’s the house my sisters and I grew up in so we’ve lost all our memories,” said Katie, a maternity care assistant at Ipswich Hospital.

“It’s just so sad and unfortunate. I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet, we’re all trying to get our heads around it.”

But she said that offers of help from both friends and strangers were ‘so touching’ and helped her parents to remain positive throughout the situation.

“My parents are so overwhelmed. They would never ask for anything so they’re really choked by it and so grateful that neighbours and people who they’ve never even met care and want to help them,” she said.

“I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has reached out to my family. We will be forever grateful and I don’t know how we’ll ever thank them enough. It is so heart-warming and touching to see how much people care and we are just in awe.”

She added: “I also want to say thank you to the little boy to alerted my parents to the fire because without him, God knows what would have happened. We hope to do something to thank him and his family as soon as we possibly can.”

To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/katie-okeeffe-2