Financial and moral support is pouring in for an Oxford Township family of six that lost its home at 835 Hummer Lake Rd. to a devastating fire on Sunday, April 28.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, a total of 174 people had contributed a combined $15,130 to an online fund-raising campaign to help the Streeter family rebuild. Listed under “Streeter Family Fire Help,” the GoFundMe campaign’s goal is to raise $25,000.

“Holy cow! That’s just amazing,” said Lori Streeter. “It’s so heartwarming to us and so special. It means so much that the community is pulling together to help us. It’s unbelievable. We just really, really appreciate it.”

“It gives me goosebumps every time I think about it. People are very generous,” said Blake Streeter. “It’s nice to know that Oxford is such a great community and that people are so willing to help others when they need it.”

According to Oxford Assistant Fire Chief Dave Creech, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Fire Investigation Unit is attempting to determine what caused the fire. He said it appears the fire started “in or around the attached garage.”

According to Creech, the house is a total loss. He estimated the fire caused $325,000 in damage to the structure and a $200,000 loss in contents.

No one was injured in the blaze and for that, Blake is “unbelievably glad.”

“It’s what gets me through the day,” he said. “I can’t imagine how much worse it would be right now if I’d lost (someone).”

Blake is well-known in the community as the scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 366, which meets at Oxford United Methodist Church on E. Burdick St.

Married for nearly 21 years, Blake and Lori have four sons – Austyn,12; Dakota, 15; Logan, 18; and Bailey, 19. Over the years, the family has been, and continues to be, involved in many activities through the school district, the parks and recreation department and scouts.

“The Streeter family does a lot with marching band and robotics and Boy Scouts. I don’t think it’s all that surprising that the community is backing them,” said Cissie Patterson, who launched the GoFundMe campaign. “(This is a family) that helps others whenever they can . . . This is a great way for others to show their support and thankfulness at a time when they need it.”

According to Patterson, whose son Steven is a Life Scout in Troop 366, another mother in the troop, Star Kennedy, wanted to start an online fund-raiser, but didn’t know how to go about it, so she stepped in.

It didn’t take long to meet the original goal of raising $5,000. “I think the GoFundMe (page) went up around 10 a.m. (Sunday) and I would say by dinner time, it had reached the $5,000 (mark),” Patterson said.

Patterson increased the goal to $10,000, which was met and surpassed shortly before 6 p.m. Monday. She then raised it a second time to the current $25,000.

“We have no clue (as to) how much they might need to rebuild,” Patterson wrote in a post on the GoFundMe page.

The GoFundMe page also contains a link to a PayPal money pool for the Streeters, which had an additional $2,500 in it as of Tuesday morning, according to Patterson.

Patterson is happy to help the Streeters because she believes they truly exemplify the 12 points of the Scout Law.

“A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent,” she said. “I think that the Streeter family lives the Scout Law in all that they do.”

Blake said “it’s hard to put into words” what it means to him to “have all these people (whose) lives that I (have) touched” reaching into their pockets to support his family. Scrolling through the list of donor names on the GoFundMe page, Blake was amazed by what he saw.

“There (are) people I haven’t spoken to in years that are giving $500,” he said. “I want to say thank you (to everyone) . . . Maybe I’ll have the time in the future to reach out to every one of them individually and thank them.”

Lori was the one who discovered the fire in the wee hours when she returned home from a friend’s college graduation party in Holly.

As she approached, the first thing she noticed was the “orange” sky. Then, Lori saw her two-story house “engulfed in flames.”

No one was home when the fire erupted, but there were four dogs, two cats and two bearded dragons inside, according to Lori.

When she opened the front door and called for the animals, two of the dogs came running out. Braving the smoke and flames, she made two trips inside to rescue the other two dogs and the felines.

“The two cats were just screaming their heads off,” Lori said. “You could tell they were scared to death.”

All of the dogs and cats made it out safely.

The bearded dragons “unfortunately didn’t make it,” Lori said.

Blake described his wife’s actions as “heroic.”

He noted how Lori also managed to save from the flames a three-dimensional, stained-glass airplane that doubles as a kaleidoscope. To Blake, this object is “priceless” because his grandfather made it for him before he passed away.

“It’s a special little thing I’ve always cherished and I still have it,” he said.

It was quite a painful experience for Lori to witness the destruction of the place her family had called home since April 2006. “It was just the worst thing that you could ever possibly imagine,” she said. “It was unreal. I was hysterical . . . It was so heartbreaking.”

Creech said the fire department was dispatched at 1:31 a.m. and the first engine was on scene at 1:39 a.m.

He said the fire was extinguished by 2:32 a.m.. He estimated that approximately 25,000 gallons of water was used to battle the blaze.

Firefighters didn’t leave the scene until 8:29 a.m.

“We were there a long time,” Creech said.

Fire departments from neighboring Brandon and Metamora townships assisted at the scene with both tanker trucks and manpower.

Orion and Addison firefighters brought an engine and ambulance, respectively, to Oxford Station #1 to cover other calls.

Blake wished to send “a special thank you” to Hillside Bible Church in Ortonville, which picked up the tab for $1,000 worth of clothing, personal hygiene items and other supplies for his family at Sam’s Club. The church also gave each one of them a gift basket containing items designed to meet basic needs and provide comfort.

The Streeters don’t attend that church, but given what Hillside did for them, Blake said, “I might be a member now.”