HOLYOKE – After a devastating fire in Holyoke destroyed one family’s home, the community is coming together to help raise money for and support them.

The Langevin family lost their Fairfield Avenue home to a large fire on the night of Sept. 29. It didn’t take long after the family experienced the tragedy for the community to come together and lend a helping hand.

In addition to a GoFundMe page, which raised more than $25,000 for the family, Nick’s Nest, a small, locally-owned hot dog joint on 1597 Northampton St. stepped in to help raise money for the family. Over the course of Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, the establishment hosted a fundraiser for the family by donating the money from the sale of their soft-serve ice cream.

One of the owners, Jenn Chateauneuf, told Reminder Publishing, this isn’t the first time they’ve held a soft-serve fundraiser, but everyone at Nick’s Nest “wanted to help out and see how everyone could contribute.”

Over the course of two days money was raised through ice-cream sales, donations, and employee contributions.

Chateauneuf said over the course of the two-day fundraiser “it was packed” and “there were so many students that showed up” to support Mr. Langevin, who she said is a teacher at South Holyoke High School.

People weren’t just buying ice-cream though, she said a lot of people donated in addition to buying soft-serve as well. “A lot of people would get a cone and give us a $20, and tell us to keep the change,” said Chateauneuf.

Employees who worked over the course of the fundraiser also chose to donate their tips to the Langevin family. At the end of the fundraiser, a total of $2928.37 had been raised to help the family rebuild their lives after the tragic fire.

However, the generosity of Nick’s Nest employees wasn’t quite over.

When the fundraiser was finished, an employee Chateauneuf identified as Liz, decided to donate $71.63 to bring the total amount of money raised to $3,000. Chateauneuf said, “I think she just saw the generosity and wanted to be a part of it.”

Despite the fundraiser being over, she said Nick’s Nest is still and will continue to serve as a dropoff point for anyone who’d like to drop off donations for the family.