The church family of those injured in a rural Bloomington home explosion this week is coming together to respond to the tragedy.
East White Oak Bible Church is the Hoefer’s congregation. Eight members of the Hoefer family were hurt, three of them critically, after their home exploded along Old Peoria Court late Tuesday night.
Senior Pastor Scott Boerckel said church leadership has strategized on the best ways to support the family right now. The three who are critically injured are in different burn units across the region. Boerckel said pastoral staff and members of the congregation have visited the patients.
“There’s a communication conduit that we’re trying to make sure that each family member gets information about other family members,” he said.
The Hoefers have been an active part of East White Oak for about six years and Boerckel said the family is clearly close.
“They seem to have a cohesiveness that is unusual in families and I would say even in larger families,” he said. “The closeness that I see is really special.”
There are a couple immediate needs, but the situation is still fluid.
“We can structure it in such a way that we don’t overwhelm, but we not abandoning them,” he said.
One immediate need is clothing. The Hoefer home was destroyed, according to the Danvers Fire Protection District.
One of the Hoefer children was not home at the time of the explosion. Boerckel said when church staff spoke with him in the hospital, the youth pastor noticed he was wearing flip flops. The boy said he no longer had any shoes. By chance, the pastor had the same shoe size, and gave the shoes on his feet to the boy. The church also purchased some new clothing for him.
Another immediate need is to start the insurance claim process. Boerckel said attorneys with the church are trying to start that process on behalf of the Hoefers, in part to secure funds to help them recover.
“How is it that the insurance company can get them some funds when there’s no one that can cash the checks?” he said. “We have attorneys in our church that are working to be able to facilitate that with emergency guardianship being established through a local judge.”
The scope of what aid they need isn’t fully determined yet, as the Hoefers and their church family wait to see how the medical recovery goes.
“Our church is in it for the long haul,” said Boerckel, who is asking anyone who feels inclined to help right now to make only monetary donations.
“Because there’s so little that’s known … we’re suggesting people make cash donations rather than any in-kind things, simply because there’s no place to put it right now,” he said.
An aunt to the Hoefer family has established a GoFundMe that had raised more than $63,000 as of 4 p.m. Friday. The church also is accepting donations into its “benevolence fund” that will help the Hoefer family.
Boerckel has written a message to his congregation to address some of the complex emotions they might be feeling in response to the explosion. He also plans to address the situation in his sermon this weekend.
Cause still unknown
It is still unknown what caused the explosion and subsequent fire. Nicor Gas and Danvers Fire confirmed it was not due to a natural gas leak.
Nicor utility crews on scene cut off the gas line, but firefighters still discovered a burning pipe in the basement.
Danvers Fire Chief Glenn Rosecrans said the call came in around 11:50 p.m. Tuesday. The home was engulfed in a fast-moving fire that damaged the neighboring home to the west and destroyed a fence to the east.
There also were several vehicles that were damaged. Boerckel said three cars are usable, but the keys were destroyed in the fire.
There are several agencies involved in the origin-and-cause investigation, including the State Fire Marshal's office, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, McLean County sheriff’s detectives, the McLean County Emergency Management Agency, and Nicor.
