Nazareth Community Helps Family Rebuild After Fire

UPDATED: July 15, 9:20 a.m.

It was a seemingly quiet Monday afternoon, and Charles Weisenberger of 135 N. New St. in Nazareth had just finished mowing his lawn.

He rolled his lawn mower into his garage, like he had done a countless number of times; however, his lawn mower caught fire for unknown reasons, engulfing his garage and home in flames.

About a dozen fire companies -- the company from Newton, N.J., even responded -- and ambulances descended on Weisenberger’s home. When the fire was extinguished, Weisenberger and his wife, Robin, who have a son in college, had lost their garage, two vehicles and their home.

“A lifetime of memories and personal property was gone,” said Nazareth resident Ben Miller in an e-mail to Patch.

That night, Miller set up a Facebook event page asking members of the community to help raise money for the Weisenbergers.

And Nazareth has answered the call to action.

How are the Weisenbergers' friends, family and community helping the local family put their life back together? Here's how:

1. Donation containers have been placed at , , Copiers Inc., , , , , , , , , , and Sunoco A Plus Mini Market.
   
   
2. The Lower Nazareth Township Sonic will donate 10 percent of all proceeds today (Thursday, July 14) to the Weisenberger family.
   
   
3. UPDATED: Action Karate will be running a special with new students (any age) from now until the end of July. For $29, students will receive three lessons and a karate uniform. All proceeds will be donated to the Weisenbergers. Call (610) 746-3600 to sign up.
   
   
4. in Bushkill Township will be donating 10 percent of all proceeds made this weekend, Friday to Sunday, to the Weisenbergers. Individuals are also welcome to donate additional money, which will go to the family.
   
   
5. in Lower Nazareth is donating a basket of household goods.
   
   
6. Sonic, Dario's Pizza and other local restaurants are each donating $25 gift cards to the Weisenbergers -- for months to come -- assuring them a meal each day while they focus on rebuilding their lives.
   
   
7. Stacy Litsinger, a local Tastefully Simple representative, has created an online fundraiser. You can do this by first going to www.tastefullysimple.com. Select the items you would like and add them to your cart. Click on the shopping cart in the upper right-hand corner of the page, which will take you to a new page with a button that says, "Find Host or Event." Click that button and type "Weisenberger" as the first name, and "Family" as the last name.
   
   
8. Jacqueline Lee-Werkheiser, an Avon representative and one of the Weisenbergers' neighbors, has created an online fundraiser.
   
   
9. ADDED: Jennifer Wilk, a Scentsy representative, has created an online fundraiser for the Weisenberger family that will be offered through the end of July.

How You Can Help:

In addition to the above, you can purchase gift cards for the family from places such as , CVS, Kmart, etc.

They can be sent to:

The Weisenberger Family
C/O
1151 Northampton Street
Easton, PA 18042-4115

Miller finished his e-mail by writing this:

"This isn’t about any one of us individually, it’s about a community coming together to help our neighbor through a tough time. We understand our contributions won’t bring back the things that were lost, but we want the Weisenberger family to know that Nazareth is full of people who care and want to help."