Family offered rent-free apartment after their house burns down

MEDINA — After reading about the devastating fire Jan. 10 that left the Hall family homeless, Glenn Smith said he got choked up. He turned to his wife, Peggy, and said, "We have to do something." The 80-year-old stepped forward and offered a rental property he owns in the city of Medina to Tim and Shannon Hall rent free for a year. If they need him to throw in utilities, as well, he said he would. "It's time for us to give back," Smith said, adding he would turn over the keys to the apartment to the Halls today. The family would have had access to their new home Monday, but were at Akron Children's Hospital where their 12-year-old daughter, Emily, had surgery on her burned hands. She was released from the hospital Monday evening. "She had a skin graft on her right hand," mother Shannon said. "She's been a trooper." The Halls didn't know where they would lie their heads after Emily got out of the hospital. Smith said the two-bedroom apartment on Brookland Drive isn't furnished, but does have a stove, refrigerator and dishwasher and recently has been renovated. The Halls accepted Smith's apartment "sight unseen." "We needed a place to go. It's a roof over our heads," Shannon said. "We're completely blown away (by Smith's gesture). There are no words." The Halls' home on Lake Road in Lafayette Township was a total loss along with all its contents. Shannon and her daughter got out of the house alive, even though the mother went back in to attempt to save their three dogs, Sadie, Junior and Rosie, who perished in the fire. Lafayette firefighters went back into the house last week and removed the dogs so they could be buried. Shannon's husband, Tim, was released from Cleveland Clinic on Sunday after having a heart procedure. He had been in the hospital since Jan. 4 and was not home when the family's house burned. Their new friend, Smith, said the family deserves some good fortune, and he knows all too well how a fire can devastate. His daughter was burned out of her home in Florida about 10 years ago. "They've hit rock bottom," he said. "They lost everything. Luckily, they had insurance." Others in the community also are trying to let the Halls know they are not alone. Taylor Urban, the Halls' daughter, said she was heading down to Digsby's Pizza, Pasta & Pub Grub, 4934 Park Ave. W., Seville, to be a runner for the restaurant Monday. Digsby's donated 10 percent of its total sales from 4-8 p.m. to the family. Contessa's On The Lake on Lake Road in Chippewa Lake served almost 500 spaghetti dinners Thursday and raised $8,285 for the Hall family. "People have done so much for our family, I want to give back as much as I can," Urban said. Contact reporter Bob Finnan at (330) 721-4049 or rfinnan@medina-gazette.com.