Cherry Hill man loses father and home in Main Street fire; community raises funds

Cherry Hill man loses father and home in fire

The Cherry Hill community is supporting Hazem Abdalla, who lost his father and home in a fire on January 31st.

CHERRY HILL, N.J. - A Cherry Hill man is receiving support from his community after losing his father and his home in a fire on the 500 block of Main Street.

Community support grows after devastating fire

What we know:

Hazem Abdalla, 27, lost his father Eid Abdalla in the fire and was unable to save him. Eid Abdalla was his only family in the United States. 

The owners of Abdalla’s job posted a video on social media, announcing a $4,000 donation to start a GoFundMe and encouraging others to help.

Abdalla came home on Jan. 31 to find his house burning. He said, "It's just a like a really difficult time that I'm dealing with right now." 

Abdalla described running to the door, seeing smoke, and screaming for his father before trying to go inside. "I lost my father. Like that was like my best friend," he said.

Abdalla said his father was in his late sixties and had struggled with dementia and high blood pressure. 

Abdalla took a part-time job at Cheessteaks in Merchantville five months ago to care for his father. He said, "There's like been a tremendous amount of love and support going on from the community and from the owners and from like my neighbors."

Abdalla and his father moved to the United States when he was five, and the rest of his family is still in Egypt. He said, "I'm just trying to like honestly like take it step by step and like day by day."

Abdalla said his father was known in the community for being a loving person who was always there when needed. "He was just a great man honestly. The whole community has known him for like being a loving person who was always there for you when you need it," he said.

Abdalla’s neighbors tried to keep him from entering the burning house, but he ran inside anyway. He said his neighbor told him not to go in, but he did so out of desperation to save his father.

Abdalla said, "It's something I can't like comprehend or like fathom."

What you can do:

Neighbors and Abdalla’s workplace have rallied to help, with donations and messages of support.

Abdalla is now facing the challenge of rebuilding his life alone. "I look at the house, and I'll see it and like yeah real life will hit and just like yeah that's everything I had right there," he said.

A GoFundMe has been launched to help Abdalla recover from his loss.

What we don't know:

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Authorities are still investigating.