Tony Jarosz gets gift certificates and a Powerball lottery ticket from neighbor Kathy Eckert. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        COVINGTON — Things are looking better every day for a man who lost everything in a fire Sunday.

        Neighbors' compassion was evident instantly: blankets, hugs, coats, warm drinks and offers for shelter. Next, the bigger problem: how to rebuild and where to start.

        Friday, a Cincinnati businessman who asked to remain anonymous put $50,000 in a bank account to start a fund to help Tony Jarosz, a Vietnam veteran whose house in the 1100 block of Highway Avenue — Ky. 8 — in Covington was destroyed.

        The donor said Mr. Jarosz had impressed him.

        “Just his attitude through out the whole tragedy appealed to me,” the donor said.

TO GIVE

Donations to the Tony Jarosz Fund can be made at any area Provident Bank branch starting today. Donations also can be mailed to Provident Bank, Tony Jarosz Fund, ML 921L, 1 E. Fourth St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.

        Mr. Jarosz, 48, told the Enquirer on Sunday that “(The house) was everything to me. I'd made it through 'Nam and I'll make it through this.”

        As Mr. Jarosz's house burned, flames shot into the air and smoke billowed over the Ohio River into downtown Cincinnati.

        The donor said he was impressed upon reading newspaper accounts that Mr. Jarosz, although lacking insurance for the more than $300,000 in house and possessions he lost, was worried only about getting his car keys so he could go to work the next day.

        The donor, himself a World War II veteran of the South Pacific, said he realizes that the money won't replace all Mr. Jarosz's possessions, but hopes that others will chip in, especially at the holidays.

        “I can afford it,” the donor said. “I'm not doing any big thing at all.”

        Others say they would like to help.

        “The fact that (Mr. Jarosz) wanted to get right to it” and “had the courage to

        do that” prompted Emily Buchanan of Wilmington to give $100.

        “I might square up some more,” the 84-year-old said. “I hope there's a million people that'll do that.”

        “I don't know how I'm going to handle all of this,” Mr. Jarosz said, standing in front of his burned house. “I didn't expect none of this. It's very good news.”

        Kathy Eckert and her sister, Clare Schneider, grew up next to Mr. Jarosz and heard about his loss. They stopped by to give hugs, a card stuffed with gift certificates to Home Depot and Kmart and a Powerball lottery ticket. Today's drawing in the Powerball lottery is worth $105 million.

        They remember Tony as a good man who took care of their mother when she was ill with leukemia.

        “He was always there,” Mrs. Eckert said, tears in her eyes.

        “You tell your donor he's doing right by this guy.”
       

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