When fire ripped through the LeClair’s Gray home May 3, it left nothing but part of the house frame and some smoke-stained clothes. All the family’s belongings, their furniture, photos, pots and pans, were reduced to black ash.

But out of that ash has come hope for Michael and Melanie LeClair. Now staying in a rental home while waiting to rebuild their home on Tim’s Run, off Route 26, the family’s spirits have been lifted by the community’s response to their plight, which includes a benefit dinner at the American Legion Saturday, July 19. The effort has also acted as a fine lesson for the couple’s daughters.

“The kids have been able to see the community step up and help a little bit,” said Melanie LeClair. “It’s shocking sometimes to see that there really is good in the world, and that people really want to help each other.”

LeClair did not see this silver lining on the clouds of smoke that greeted her on return to her home May 3. Michael and Melanie had just finished dinner with Michael’s parents, and Melanie, her mother-in-law, and the two oldest LeClair daughters, Blair, 13, and Alexandra, 8, were returning home while the guys went to a movie.

“I came home to firemen in my yard, and floodlights. Doors and windows were busted out, and there were holes in my roof,” said LeClair, who at first thought an accident had occurred on a corner near her house. “I didn’t believe what I was seeing. It was pretty shocking.”

Investigators told LeClair that creasol built up in the chimney may have leaked through and started a fire that crept into the walls and closets, or perhaps a stray ember from a wood stove jumped into a kindling stack and started the blaze. The cause of the fire remains undetermined.

“It was just a freak accident,” said LeClair.

LeClair, eight months pregnant at the time, quickly called her parents, Tom and Rebecca Soucier of Gray, and asked them to come take the kids. She then called Michael, who had just taken his seat at the movie theater. The couple spent the rest of the night at the home, wondering what, if anything was left.

“We saved some clothes. We grabbed what we could, and left everything else,” said LeClair. When they found a temporary rental home, the insurance company had to completely furnish the place.

“Everything right down to the pots and pans,” said LeClair. “We had absolutely nothing.”

With newborn Madeline now two weeks old, the LeClairs have four daughters to fit in their home, and they had been taking steps to make the most out of the space they had at their house. But all that work was for naught.

“Everything we did got destroyed,” said LeClair.

Also lost were all the children’s belongings, including the presents Alexandra had received for her April 16 birthday. And one of the family’s cats was killed in the fire.

But upon hearing of the LeClair’s plight, community members came forward to offer aid. Gobeil’s Furniture in Gray gave gift bags with toys to the kids, and furniture to the parents. Russell School, where Alexandra attends elementary school, offered gift cards, grocery cards and clothes to the LeClairs.

Now, the American Legion Auxiliary and the First Congregational Church of Gray have come together to hold a public spaghetti supper to benefit the LeClair family. The dinner will take place on Saturday, July 19, 5-7 p.m., at the American Legion Hall on Route 100 in Gray. The cost is $6 for adults and $3 for children under 12 years old, with a special family rate available.

Rosie Stansfield of the First Congregational Church said she first heard of the LeClairs from the nurse at the Russell School. Moved by the story, she then worked with the Rev. Nancy Salisbury to set aside an area at the church to accept clothing and other goods for the LeClairs. They then planned the dinner.

“People have been very kind and generous to this family,” said Stansfield. “People have had great empathy for this family and their situation.”

The LeClairs are amazed at the outpouring of support, mostly from strangers.

“As bad as things are right now, they still want to give to people,” said LeClair.

A CLOSER LOOK

How to help the LeClair family:

The American Legion Auxiliary and the First Congregational Church of Gray will host a spaghetti supper to benefit the LeClair family Saturday, July 19, from 5-7 p.m.

Dinner will be served at the American Legion Hall on Route 100 in Gray. Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for children under 12 years old, with a special family rate available. For more information or to donate items, call Rose Stansfield at 926-6083.

‘People really want to help each other’Melanie LeClair was eight months pregnant with daughter Madeline when the Gray home she shared with her husband, Michael, was destroyed by fire in early May. The LeClairs’ three older daughters, Blair, Alexandra and Taylor, lost all their belongings in the fire, and community members have stepped forward to lend a hand.