CLEVELAND — It’s been just one week and two days after the apparent explosion at the Rainbow Terrace Apartments on Garden Valley, and the community is still showing up to give those impacted what they need and a safe place to share their stories.
RELATED: 5 hospitalized, residents displaced after explosion, fire at apartment building
“I know people a lot of people have been making jokes about what’s going on, like that’s not needed right now. This is serious. This is not a movie,” said Lorenzo Sanders, an apartment explosion survivor.
As the investigation continues, people, like Sanders, say they're still in shock.
“It’s hard to sleep because I keep seeing those kids, burned like on fire,” said Sanders.
The sound of a pop is another difficult reminder because Sanders said it’s the noise that woke him out of his sleep to quickly get to safety by using bed sheets to save him and his friend’s lives.
“By the time I got out, like flames just shot across my head, so I just jumped out the window from the third floor,” said Sanders.
Since that difficult day, Sanders has gone back to his apartment to find his home of 13 years completely destroyed and his two cats dead.
Meanwhile, Christopher Mays, another apartment explosion survivor, said he still finds himself speechless.
“I can’t even begin to explain the feeling of getting woke up by an explosion,” said Mays.
Even more traumatizing is the way Mays said he stepped in to save people’s lives.
“I had to catch my baby cousin out of a third (floor) window. Her mom threw her out. I had to catch her, watching my other neighbors climb down sheets and one of them jumped because he got overwhelmed by smoke,” said Mays.
But Mays said he’s grateful he and his family are still here, and is praying for the other three, who Cleveland Fire Lt. Mike Norman said remain in critical condition.
“I try to live by moments now. Instead of going long term for stuff because anything can happen,” said Mays.
The grief from these survivors is real, so community leaders organized a ‘Community Care Night’ at Cleveland’s Platform 13 on Wednesday for those in need of a safe space to find help.
“They were complaining about not being able to get access to those things, and so we wanted a space for them to come in and feel safe, welcomed, loved on and so they can gain the access to the resources that they need without any type of barriers,” said Black Lives Matter Cleveland President and Co-Founder, LaTonya Goldsby.
If you do want to donate, the recommendation is for you to go to reliable sources like Black Lives Matter Cleveland, the Men and Women of Central and Project LIFT to make sure your donations are getting into the right hands.
We also shared a story last week of certified drop-off sites in the community.
RELATED: Here's how you can help those impacted by Cleveland apartment explosion
