Friends of a longtime Kasilof resident are asking for monetary and material donations to help repair Clayton Whisamore’s home, which was destroyed in a fire earlier this month.
Whisamore left his home on Nov. 10 to help a friend mend a fence just down the road. He took his two dogs but left a small fire burning in his outdoor wood stove, expecting it to extinguish itself in the rain.
While checking the schematics on his friend’s fence, Whisamore noticed smoke coming from the direction of his house. He started driving that way immediately, he told the Clarion last Friday, and knew his house was the one ablaze when he was about two blocks away. He called the Kasilof fire station and waited approximately 45 minutes, he said, for emergency personnel to respond. In the meantime, the home he had lived in for 25 years burned to the ground, along with his photos, writings and family heirlooms. Whisamore’s house, which wasn’t insured due to his limited disability income, was pronounced a “total loss.”
“There wasn’t much I could do,” Whisamore said. “I was going to try to go in, but there was too much smoke. At least me and the dogs are safe.”
A retired commercial fisherman, mechanic and construction worker, Whisamore calls himself a “jack of all trades.” Tim Moerlein, a friend helping to rebuild Whisamore’s house and raise money through GoFundMe, said Whisamore has a reputation for dropping everything and to help those in need.
“He’s the kind of guy who goes out of his way in below-zero temps if someone’s car won’t start to help them, and he doesn’t ask for anything in return,” Moerlein said. “I mean, he goes and has dinner with an older lady every Sunday night because her kids won’t go see her.”
Now, the community he’s spent years serving is returning the favor by raising money and donating construction supplies to build him a modest replacement home. His friends created a fundraiser through GoFundMe on Nov. 18, and as of Tuesday, Nov. 25, they’ve raised $10,350 of their $30,000 goal. Moerlein said he thinks they’ll have Whisamore in the replacement home “within a month,” but it depends on how much help they get.
In the meantime, Whisamore is living in a trailer on his property. He said he didn’t expect such an outpouring of support from the community.
“There are so many other tragedies that have happened, even just here in Alaska,” Whisamore said. “I’m just so thankful to have a community that has pitched in to help me rebuild. All I can do now is look forward and make new memories.”
“Clayton has always stepped up to help anyone he could, being a generous and kind-hearted neighbor and friend,” Mary Toll, who organized the GoFundMe, wrote on the fundraiser webpage. “It is our turn to help Clayton.”
Find the GoFundMe fundraiser at www.gofundme.com/f/clayton-whisamore.
