More than £5,000 has been raised in less than 24 hours for elderly people who lost their home in a devastating fire.
Residents of The Croft Care Home, on Ettrick Grove, Sunderland, had to be evacuated on Friday morning after a fire broke out in the residential home's roof.
Two people living in the home, along with four other people, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while all the other residents were safely transferred to a nearby residential home.
Moved by the plight of the elderly people who'd been forced to flee their home, leaving most of their belongings behind, Jolene Casey started an online fundraising page to help buy "dressing gowns, pyjamas and slippers".
Saying she felt she "had to get involved and help somehow", Jolene initially set a target of £1,000 - but just 19 hours after the page was launched, the total collected already stood at £5,259.
Jolene said she was "absolutely overwhelmed" at passing the £5,000 mark overnight.
She told those who had donated: "You guys are simply amazing for getting behind this local crisis. The support messages received have had me in floods of tears.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Meanwhile Jolene, helped by a team of volunteers, is also collecting clothing and other items for the residents, with calls going out on local Facebook pages for people to share anything they have that might help.
The care home, which was described as a "beautiful building" by neighbours, sustained serious damage in the fire, which started in the roof at around 10.30 on Friday morning.
Firefighters could be seen tackling smoke still rising from the building until late in the afternoon, with the last of the firefighters finally leaving Ettrick Grove just after 8pm.
You can donate towards the fund at: https://gf.me/u/yb2uyk
