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Montgomery Avenue second grader Brooke Hamlett poses in front of the donations her classmates made to her family after the family was displaced by a fire.

Montgomery Avenue students recently collected items for a fellow students family, which was displaced by fire. From left, front, Lyla Sobeski, Laura Powers, Erica Gilligan, Brooke Hamlett, Dominic Vanetz, Cody McCartney, Cristan Visneski and Preston Coffett. Back row, teacher Becky Jones, Aidan Paulinchak, Chase Skoloda, Allison Tibel, Marley Hale, Quinton Saintilus, Xander Kush, Anthony Littzi and Ayden Middleton.

WEST PITTSTON — Students at the Montgomery Avenue Elementary school recently stepped up to help out a family in need.

Late Wednesday night, fire displaced a family from their apartment on 21 Luzerne Ave. in West Pittston. One of the residents, seven-year-old Brooke Hamlett, is a student in Becky Jones’ second grade class at Montgomery Avenue. For the past few days, students and teachers have been making donations to the family.

So far, the family has several boxes of clothes prepared for them. Hamlett, who was out of school on Thursday, was in class on Friday with all her classmates.

“We just started this yesterday and you can already see what we’ve collected,” Jones said Friday. “The outpouring of support has been great.”

According to the Times Leader, the family lost just about everything in the fire on Wednesday night. It started inside a vacant second-floor apartment on the other side of the building. The total damage sustained by the family’s apartment, including smoke and water damage, is estimated to cost $50,000 by West Pittston Fire Chief John Hood.

So far, the students of Montgomery Avenue and the community have gathered a substantial amount of clothes for the family.

“It gives hope,” Jones said. “Not only the kids have been helping, but we still have parents bringing stuff in to class. We’re just running out of room. I know it’s not done yet.”

Since the fire on Wednesday night, the Times Leader reported the state police deputy fire marshal ruled the fire an arson. According to Hood, Wednesday’s fire was the third arson at the building in the last six to eight months.

This was the second fire in the past few weeks that has affected the Montgomery Avenue school. A family of five were displaced in a fire two weeks ago. Since then, the faculty of the school made a monetary donation to the family, along with some clothes.