Shawnna Hunter, a Madison College student, was hit by tragedy in early December. In an accidental fire, her family lost their home and most of their belongings.

Shawnna and her husband, Maurice, were dealing with quite a few challenges even before the fire. They had recently moved to Wisconsin for Maurice’s job at the Marriott Hotel. Shawnna began studying at Madison College while continuing to raise their four young children.

The fire brought chaos and confusion to the young family, and they ended up losing everything. The few things that weren’t burned were damaged beyond repair by water and smoke.

Despite the tragedy, the family is remaining positive, Shawnna explained that things have gotten somewhat calmer over the past month.

“Surprisingly, we’ve been doing really well. We’ve been managing. In the beginning it was a little stressful,” Shawnna commented.
The Hunters’ extended family is still in Illinois, and that distance posed a challenge. The Marriott has been extremely helpful, even inviting the family to stay at the hotel while providing them with meals and other aid.

“They’ve treated us like sisters; like siblings,” Shawnna expressed. “Like family, for real,” added Maurice. Shawnna continued, “Like close family, like your-grandmother- bakes-you-cookies family.”

“They’ve rolled out the red carpet for us,” Maurice explained.

In another effort to help, Madison college students came together and donated not only money, but clothing and food as well. Donations are still coming in, and over $500 has been raised to help the family get back on its feet.

The Hunters are still looking for a place to live, but finding an affordable house or apartment with enough space is tricky.

“I guess that we can only do the best that we can,” said Maurice. “We did find some things that interest us, but the majority that have actu- ally enough space and that we enjoy seem to be just a little bit out of the budget.”

He continued, “So at this point we’re finding that we’re going to settle for the space that we have. We just at some point need to have something to call our own. We’re going to take whatever we can get, at this point, just so we can give our children back their sense of privacy and consistency.”

The family’s future plans are still shaky, but they’ve taken a very proactive approach, breaking their objectives down into smaller goals that are within reach.

“It’s a day to day process,” Mr. Hunter explained, “We’re rebuilding, and we’re not really expecting to do it overnight so we haven’t put any time limit on how long it may take us. We’re just going to do it one step at a time.” Shawnna emphasized that their first step is finding a place to live.

“Once we’ve secured housing, then I think the rebuilding and everything else will fall into place. If you rush; if you seem to be in so much of a hurry, then it never really works out right.”

Donations for the family are still being accepted. To contribute, contact the Madison College Foundation at (608) 246-6441.