“By the time I got there, it was gone,” Thacker said. “Everything was gone.”
Living in a camper on the lot with her dogs has been hard, but Thacker said she is trying to make the best of the situation.
“I’m still having a hard time, and I still tried to bounce back instead of sitting there skulking about it because, yes, I lost my business, I lost my work, I lost everything, but I tried to just get back up the next day,” Thacker said.
Thacker said she almost didn’t ask for help but she is glad she called St. Vincent de Paul. Director Casey Rollins has been “an honest blessing,” Thacker said.
“I didn’t know how much I wanted to keep going until I met her,” Thacker said. “I mean I love my daughter; I would never want anything to happen to me because of my daughter, but when you’re down like that, you have nothing that you worked so hard for, it’s just hard.”
Rollins and St. Vincent de Paul have helped Thacker with purchasing groceries, clothing and some kitchen items. Rollins said they are working on finding a place for her to bake to continue operating her home bakery, which she has had for 20 years.
The nonprofit held an open house Thursday and employed Thacker to cater the event. She received high praise from guests, and after the event concluded, Rollins said St. Vincent gifted Thacker her “dream item,” a Kitchen Aid stand mixer.
Thacker said she lost her Kitchen Aids in the fire.
The South Charleston community came together to support her, too, with people she had never previously met raising funds that allowed her to buy propane for her camper, gas for her car and dog food for her adult dogs and nine puppies.
One item that Thacker was devastated to lose most was her great grandmother’s 130-year-old Bible. It had her late grandmother’s handwriting in it, and Thacker said she only found a piece of it in the debris of her home.
“I just wanted to find something, as long as I could see the handwriting,” Thacker said.
Since the fire, Thacker has become cautious. She unplugs everything before she leaves her camper and she said “everything” scares her.
This season is hard to not be working, Thacker said. She is usually inundated with sweet treat orders, but she is unable to bake much in borrowed kitchens.
She said once her electricity, which was heavily damaged in the fire, is fixed, she plans to set up her undamaged garage to serve as a kitchen.
“I’ve been trying ever since (the fire), I’ve refused to sit back and I’m trying to bounce back,” Thacker said.
About the Author