Lubbock woman gives back to say thank you for support after house fire

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Every year one Lubbock woman acknowledges the support of the Lubbock community and honors her sister and nephew who died in a house fire 17 years ago.

Tiffany Lilly-Essix, Executive Director of Brittany and Devin’s Angels, says she lived two doors down from where her two sisters, Demetra and Brittany Lilly lived. On the cold night of Dec. 7, 2005, her sisters’ house caught on fire.

“It just, within minutes the house just caught on fire,” Tiffany said. “My older sister, her and her three girls were able to get out, probably out of a window about the size of a notebook paper.”

Demetra got out with her kids safely and was taken to UMC. Brittany got her six-year-old out, but her three-year-old was still inside.

“She went back to go get my other nephew and that’s when the smoke inhalation got her,” Tiffany said.

She says firefighters found 23-year-old Brittany and 3-year-old Devin where he was hiding under the bed.

With the tragic loss of Brittany and Devin, the Lilly family had to bare the heavy financial burden - that’s when a stranger became their Santa that December.

“They just gave me a check and they said, ‘Don’t worry about paying anything back to us, and you just do the right thing, and you just keep blessing people because you’re a good woman, and your family’s nice,’ and they blessed us and paid for the whole funeral services for my sister and my nephew,” Tiffany said.

Many Lubbockites helped Demetra and her kids get back on their feet.

“They had nothing but the clothes they had on, which those clothes were pretty much destroyed with the blood and stuff, and they were able to start back over,” Tiffany said.

Out of gratitude, Tiffany made a vow to help those in need. Every year, she’s given gift bags full of necessities to the residents of Grace Campus. She also sponsors a family who needs help buying Christmas gifts.

“You can be a millionaire, if you need help in the time for Christmas for your kids, I’ll be willing to support you,” Tiffany said.

She is asking for help. Tiffany needs donations for the bags and kids’ gifts. She also needs volunteers to help serve food at Grace Campus. For more information visit the Facebook event page here. To donate money for Brittany & Devin’s Angels click here for the GoFundMe.

Tiffany also gives back year-round to those who reach out to her needing help, along with an annual Back-to-School bash where she donates school supplies.

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