Ice cream shop helps family recover after fire

When someone in their close-knit town needs help, they rely on a local business.

 

It's happened hundreds of times in Jarrettsville over the past seven years. It will happen one more time to help a family who nearly lost everything in an April fire.

 

Ben Kurtz is both a member of the volunteer fire company in Jarrettsville and a business owner. When a fire tore through his funeral home, he relied on his community to help him get it running again.

 

"The local churches came to us and offered for us to have services in their facilities," Kurtz said.

 

And when someone in the community needs help getting themselves back up, they turn to the local creamery.

 

"We originally opened the business seven years ago, (and) one of the things we wanted to do was give back to the community," said Bill Stevenson, who owns the Jarrettsville Creamery and Deli. His shop is synonymous with fundraising.

 

Stevenson holds dozens of fundraisers each year to help, for example, the Boy Scouts troop, or the local cheerleaders, and on Wednesday, one to help an entire family in need of help.

 

"This was an unfortunate event that caused a significant loss," Stevenson said of the fire that badly damaged the home of the Hoskins family, sending them to live with relatives as their home was rendered temporarily unlivable.

 

Just before 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26, the Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Department responded to a 2-alarm fire at a home in the 3900 block of Boxwood Road. Kurtz said the fire started in the attached garage. Officials believe it was sparked by a lawnmower that had just been used.

The fire spread throughout the two-car garage and got into the home, causing $250,000 in structural damage and an estimated $250,000 in lost assets. There was significant heat, smoke and water damage throughout the house, according to Chief Kurtz. Two vehicles were also caught in the blaze.

The Hoskins are members of the Jarrettsville community for more than 40 years. Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Hoskins of the Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Department’s Black Horse Station is the family’s son.

The charred shells of two vehicles sat in the shadow of the families two story home Tuesday as a fire restoration company removed items from the home. A blue tarp covered half the home, which was sealed off with yellow tape.

 

The family did not want to speak about their ordeal on camera, Stevenson said.

 

"We have these fundraisers at least twice each week," Stevenson said.

 

The most notable of those is perhaps the one held for the families of two Harford County deputies shot to death in February.

 

But that, said Kurtz, is  what happens in a community where everybody knows everybody and where everybody cares as well.

 

"There's definitely hope out there that people, they care," Kurtz said.

 

The creamery is open Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

 

Ten percent of everything sold will go toward the Hoskins family.

 

You can also make a donation in their name at any PNC Bank.”