Newport MLK Center Collecting Donations for Family Mourning 7-Year-Old after Fire

NEWPORT, RI—The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center is collecting money, gift cards and clothing to help the family devastated by a early morning Labor Day fire that took the life of 7-year-old Ramon Arroyo—and was within minutes of taking two of his sisters.

Arroyo is one 0f six children in the Arroyo-Morales family who have had a relationship with the MLK Community Center for years, and the staff there shares in the devastation felt by the family.

The boy was kind, cheerful and his dimpled grin made him quite the charmer. "He was beloved by staff and campers alike," the center said in a post on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

His sister, Olga, is a staff member in the center's afterschool and summer camp programs.

Firefighters responded to the fire at 566 East Main Road early Mondayafter a Middletown police officer on routine patrol saw smoke and ran inside. He pulled two of Arroyo's teenage sisters from the house, saving their lives. Firefighters pulled Arroyo from an upstairs room a short time later but he died at Rhode Island Hospital.

"We are devastated," the center said in a message to the community.

Along with losing their boy, the family lost all of their possessions. The MLK center is asking for donations of cash, gift cards, clothing and household goods. Donations will be accepted Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 20 Marcus F. Wheatland Blvd., Newport.

Checks should be made payable to Banghy Morales, Ramon's mother.

Suggested gift cards include: Stop & Shop, Shaw's, Old Navy, Famous Footwear, Payless, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Walmart, CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens.

Every donation will go directly to the family. See the Facebook post below for more information.

Photo courtesy: Newport MLK Jr. Center via Facebook