After his home burned down, Paul Roberts, a 94-year-old World War II veteran, and retired mailman believed he was saved by a "guardian angel." His neighbors, who were inspired by his happy disposition in life despite the tragedy, have been helping him rebuild his home.
Despite the big fire which burned down everything in his 50-years home in Ship Bottom, New Jersey, Roberts wasn't injured, Today reported. In his interview, he admitted that it was difficult for his age to experience the accident. "It took everything I have," he said. "And that's hard."
On March 14, as he was preparing himself for bed, he had taken a shower and was shaving in the bathroom when he noticed smoke sipping in the door cracks. He opened the door to check what was happening. He thought the light just went out yet after he breathed in, he realized it was a fire.
He ducked himself on the floor and crawled out the back door. He banged on one of his neighbors' windows to ask for help. As his neighbor called 911, they ran over to the house and saw the fire in the bedroom. However, it was too late to put out the fire so they just waited for the police and fire department to come. He just recovered some of his photo albums and nothing else.
"It's been three weeks. You either live with it or you don't," he said while giggling. "What are you going to do? You can't be moping around forever, you know?"
Given Robert's circumstances, he considers himself fortunate. "I always thought I had lived a charmed life," he said. "I must've had a guardian angel."
His neighbors generously set up a GoFundMe to help Roberts rebuild his home. They wrote, "With the rising cost of property taxes, he was barely able to pay his tax bill with his pension. He survived Covid in March 2021, probably because of all the walking he did as a mailman..."
"Paul would like to be able to end his time here on earth in his favorite place. He had insurance, but because the house was so old, most of the construction was out of code. Within three days the town notified him that he must have the house torn down. We are hoping with crowdsource funding, we can give him the resources to help him in rebuilding a new house," they continued.
For his neighbors, he was one of the most positive people they ever met. They were inspired by Robert's wisdom in life. He said, "Well, I wake up every morning, I can either be happy or not. I might as well decide to be happy."
Despite all the challenges he experienced throughout his life such as war, natural disasters, and the death of his loved ones, he remained humble and independent.
The proceeds went up to more than $170,000 from the day it was established. Richard Obermayer, one of the fundraisers, expressed his gratitude towards the people who extended their help to Roberts.
He wrote, "Hey everyone! We are astronomically grateful for all of your contributions to Paul. I can't express enough how beautiful it is to see so many people come together to support our dear friend and wonderful member of our community."
