VIDALIA — Less than four hours after her Apple Street house burned beyond repair, Veronica Boren could only talk about the community around her.

“The community has been amazing; it’s just overwhelming,” she said. “Our phones have been ringing off the hook. We’ve already had calls from our church, Highland (Baptist Church) in Natchez, First Baptist in Vidalia. The list goes on and on, (it seems as) every church in town has called.”

Local businesses had contributed gift cards, and Boren’s co-workers at Century 21 in Natchez had set up an account at Concordia Bank for the Boren family.

“The community has been extremely generous with clothes,” Boren said.

But losing their house and all their belongings in a matter of minutes left the family with a long list of needs.

“It’s just one foot in front of the other,” Boren said.

No one but the Betta fish was home shortly after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday when the fire apparently started in the Borens’ kitchen.

Jim Boren, who was recently named acting assistant chief at the Vidalia Police Department and won the city marshal election last month, was at the Vidalia High School Veterans Day program when some firemen also attending got the call. He heard the address and headed home.

“The first thing Jim said to me was, ‘This could have happened at 3 a.m. when we were all home,’” Veronica said.

The Vidalia Fire Department arrived minutes after the call came in to find flames coming from the roof of the house, Chief Jack Langston said.

“From all appearances, it was an electrical fire out of the kitchen,” he said. “Apparently it had been burning for a while.”

Veronica Boren said three-quarters of the roof is gone, and the rest of the house has water and smoke damage.

The fire in the kitchen reached the attic and spread from there to a few other rooms in the house, Langston said.

Fireman had the flames under control within 15 minutes, he said.

But for the Borens recovering was just beginning.

The couple checked their 12-year-old daughter out of school and broke the news.

“She fell to pieces immediately,” Veronica said. “It’s the only house she’s ever lived in. But we told her, ‘We’ll get you a new computer, get you a new phone and we’ll rebuild.’ She’s OK.”

And Veronica and Jim were too busy visiting the Red Cross, arranging for overnight accommodations and getting the necessities in order to dwell on the issue much, she said.

“I have too much to do right now to fall apart,” Veronica said.

The family is accepting donations, especially of school uniforms for their daughter. She attends the Vidalia schools and wears a size 14-16 shirt and either 12 slim pants, 14 slim pants or size 0 regular pants.

Anyone can visit Concordia Bank to donate directly to the account set up for the family. The account is in the name of Veronica and Jim Boren.

The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.