NEW ORLEANS — Laverne Pinkney wiped away tears for the second New Year's Day in a row, but unlike her emotion from gratitude this year, at the start of 2021, the tears came from heartbreak and devastation.
It's been one year since illegal at-home fireworks were blamed for a fire that destroyed her home in the Hollygrove neighborhood. She was left homeless.
"Take a look at my house, and look at me. I'm homeless. I'm just literally homeless right now," Pinkney told WWL-TV in January 2021.
Last New Year's Eve, her home caught fire.
"It was late and I heard banging on the door so I came to the front and they said, 'the house is on fire, you have to get out,'" she remembers.
She believes illegal at-home fireworks ignited a truck in her driveway with flames quickly spreading to the side of her home and attic.
"It was a nightmare," she said.
On a fixed income with multiple health issues and recovering from recent spinal surgery, Pinkney didn't know where to turn and she didn't think she'd be able to call her destroyed house a home again.
"I was lost. I literally was lost. All I knew was I had just had surgery and I didn’t have anywhere to live," she said. "That’s what was going through my mind."
Her granddaughter came up with an idea to allow the community to pitch in.
"She said 'I'm going to help you get the house fixed.' I said, 'How?' She said, 'I'm going to get a Go Fund Me.' I said, 'that doesn’t work,' She said, 'yes it does.' And it does," Pinkney said.
The Go Fund Me raised $30,000.
"I tell you it was just a miracle to me. It was," Pinkney said.
Landis Construction Company rebuilt her home in March with donations.
"I'm so grateful for it that they came and did the work. I thank them so much, the whole team, they were wonderful," she said.
This New Year's Eve was not easy, one year later.
"Last night, I was really afraid because the fireworks were non-stop," she said.
Even though it was a tough night, she woke up in her home at the start of this new year thankful, even as she recovers from yet another spinal surgery.
"One year later I'm still so thankful to everyone, I am. I just want to get better now," Pinkney said.