Independence community embraces Head Start program after fire [Video]

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (KCTV) – A fire at a Head Start program in Independence has left a school scrambling to replace essential items just days before Thanksgiving. The Head Start program at Hanthorn collects food and clothing for families during the holidays, but when word of the fire spread others didn’t hesitate to give what they could.

“It was a surreal moment just to kind of see how something so small could have started something so big to start happening,” said Hanthorn Early Education Principal Phong Nguyen.

Just weeks before Thanksgiving on Nov. 4, staff at Hanthorn Early Education discovered a fire in their breakroom.

“To see all the food thrown away, all of our curriculum thrown away already, at that point all of our clothes got hit, it was a surreal moment,” said Nguyen.