This small town in Ireland is taking “love thy neighbor” to a whole new level.
Melanie and Jeremy Zanni first settled down in Co. Galway after they migrated from France to the west of Ireland ten years ago.
Upon falling in love with a cozy thatched cottage in Fartown, Glenamaddy, the couple started working as bakers for the local restaurants.
But due to an accidental chimney fire last month, the Zannis suddenly found themselves without a home last month when they woke up early one morning to find that their thatched roof had caught on fire. Within hours, their cottage had burned to the ground.
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Not only that, the French couple did not have house insurance because they had been denied coverage due to the cottage’s thatched roof.
As firefighters got the blaze under control, however, local politician Michael Fitzmaurice approached the distraught family and promised to rally the community into getting them a new home.
Over the course of the following three weeks, Fitzmaurice led a team of volunteer tradesmen, apprentices, and retired carpenters in building a new house from scratch. The determined community members worked around the clock until they were finally able to unveil the Zanni family’s brand new home last week.
Needless to say, the family was overwhelmed by the community-driven effort.
“The neighbors are not just neighbors – they’re superheroes,” Jeremy told RTE in the interview below.
Fitzmaurice, on the other hand, says that the laborers were just happy to help a neighbor in need.
“The lads weren’t doing it for the pictures and the stories, they were doing it to help,” Fitzmaurice told The Sun. “There’s a lot of talk about rural Ireland and how they deal with people from different nationalities, but this will show you what these people have done… to help people that were in distress.”
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Jeremy told The Sun that he and his wife now plan on using their new home to throw the “biggest party that Fartown has ever seen” as a means of thanking everyone for their kindness.
“It restored my faith in humanity big time. It’s incredible. Five minutes on site and you understand how crazy the whole thing is,” he added.
“Something is looking out for us. I’m not religious or superstitious or spiritual but I’m starting to be after what is happening; there is a higher force at stake.”
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by The Fartown Phoenix
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Good morning and thank you for the article.
If only the story can inspire people to knock on their neighbours doors to introduce themselves it would make my day.
Oh, we’re so glad to hear it, Jeremy!
Do feel free to reach out and contact us in the future if there are any updates on this lovely story.
Good morning guys,
Here is a lovely update, Fartown has been voted the “Soundest Town” in Ireland because of what the community did for us !
You should check out http://www.facebook.com/thefartownphoenix page for an update, a lovely video was shot and next week a national radio station is coming to broadcast from home !
Be good,
Jeremy