Community rallies around Leonard family following dual tragedies

There's little to salvage in the only home 10-year-old Cutter Gilbert has ever known.

“I had my bed facing right here. And that wall over there, that’s my momma’s bedroom,” said Cutter Gilbert, pointing to charred remains.

Friday around 12:45 a.m., flames engulfed the house along U.S. Highway 69 in Leonard.

Within minutes, the home he shared with his mom, Meagan Evans, and her grandmother was gone.

“It’s still so fresh that it's just so overwhelming that we, we don't know what to do next. We really truly don’t,” said Meagan Evans.

The home burned so quickly, Evans said she believes they wouldn’t have made it out alive if they’d been home at the time, but the entire family was spending the week at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.

 “Cutter had purchased this steer back in March of last year,” said Evans.

“I've been working on him ever since then, walking him, blow drying him every day, washing him every day,” said Cutter.

Despite the devastation at home, Cutter was determined to move forward with the project he began with Meagan’s boyfriend, Cain, who died unexpectedly five months ago.

“About two miles from here, he was in a car accident one day after church. He was actually coming to help him with his steer,” said Evans.

Last week, Cain’s family and Cutter’s FFA friends stepped in to help in his place. Even amid a new wave of grief, the fifth grader felt pressure to succeed.

“If I made sell at Fort Worth, I was going to help get a new house,” Cutter said.

“He has a big heart, but it's not something anybody should really have to do, especially not at that age,” said Evans.

In the end, number seven didn’t prove to be the family’s stroke of luck. But just like they did at the stock show, their community continues to rally.

An online fundraiser has collected $7,000 for immediate needs as they wait for insurance.

“I guess it's God's way of telling me, 'Hey, you need to slow down and you're going to have to learn to ask for help,'” Evans said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.