PLATTE CITY, Mo. — The community has raised more than $25,000 for a Platte County single mom who lost her livelihood to a fire.
Hayley Hill, owner of Hayley’s Food Truck, said the fire around 1:30 a.m. Friday destroyed the shop near her house and her food truck inside.
As a mom of three children, this was her way of supporting her family, beating back life’s challenges with coffee, pastries and brunch.
The truck was in action for months and having success.
“This was our livelihood,” Hill said. “This was how I provided for myself and my kids.”
No one was hurt in the fire, but the truck was a total loss.
“The was a dream of mine, and people are like, ‘Your dreams go up in flames.’ Literally they did, it was just kind of taken away in a night,” Hill said. “When I walk around and see puddles of plastic everywhere, they’re my kids’ toys and they’re my kids’ friends’ toys.”
Friend and fellow small business owner, Sarah Rudis, started a GoFundMe page. As of Tuesday evening, it had raised more than $25,000 in four days, exceeding its goal by $5,000.
“When one of us is down, we help each other out,” Rudis said. “I’m surprised at how many people who don’t know her helped, and I think that’s absolutely incredible that our community could do that for a small business.”
The grateful mom isn’t sure what will come next, but she now knows her community is behind her.
“It’s one less thing at the moment that I really have to think about is how to provide for my kids,” Hill said. “I’m grateful they’re just seeing what it means to see people love them, and how a community is supposed to interact with each other, and how we’re all supposed to interact with each other.”
The Southern Platte Fire Protection District said the damage was too severe to determine the cause of the fire, and their report is closed. It is not considered suspicious.