SEYMOUR, Ind. (WDRB) -- A southern Indiana rehab facility is starting over after a fire broke out earlier this week.
Todd’s Place, a transitional housing complex in Seymour, caught fire Monday afternoon. Fire officials believe it started because of an electrical issue.
Thirty men were living at the center when the fire started.
“How am I going to take care of these guys?” asked Pastor Kris Hunley, who started the center in 2015.
The center is a faith-based nonprofit that helps men who have recently been released from prison or are homeless.
“This time last year, I had 120 guys in here," Hunley said. "And if it would have happened then, I don’t know what would have happened."
Items like bikes, antiques, dishes and supplies were all destroyed in the fire.
Damage to the facility is estimated at more than $20,000. Hunley said the building, a former nursing home, did not have insurance and was running off a large generator when the fire began.
The Red Cross, Salvation Army and local churches have stepped in to temporarily house the men until a more permanent place can be secured.
“We’ve had a lot of businesses with pizza and different things, and we are thankful for that,” Hunley said.
James Kennedy lived at the facility and for the last three days has been helping with cleanup, starting with instruments used in their Sunday worship services.
“Right now, it is just get everything of value out and try to plan for the next day,” Kennedy said. “We’re not going nowhere. We might not be in this building, but we’re not going nowhere. We have to have this.”
Hunley doesn’t know what’s next for him and the men who called Todd’s Place home, but he knows he won’t do it alone.
“God called me to this, and I am not turning my back on God, and I am not turning my back on these guys,” Hunley said.
Directors of the facility hope to have the men permanently placed in housing in the next month as the fire debris is cleaned up and restoration begins.
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