Fundraiser launched for Winter Garden family displaced by lightning strike

Although the scent of smoke still lingered in the air days after a lightning strike destroyed a Winter Garden home, a campaign to restore the displaced family to normalcy already is enjoying tremendous success.

In just one day, the West Orange community has raised more than $14,000 for the mother and daughter whose house was destroyed by a lightning strike last week.

The home, in the Westfield Lakes community in Winter Garden near West Orange High School, was struck by lightning Sept. 4. The strike ignited a fire that consumed the home. No one was home at the time; both the mother and daughter who lived there are safe.

Although the house was covered by insurance, there will be expenses that that policy will not cover, wrote GoFundMe campaign creator Jackie Henley Kelley.

"We are setting up this account to help with these additional expenses," she wrote. "Any donations would be appreciated. We will report out on donations collected. If there are any unused funds, they will be donated to charity or another family in need."

To make a donation, click here.