Help Fundraiser for Local Man Who Lost Home to Fire

By Adam Roberts

A campaign has been set up on GoFundMe.com to help Hingham native Chris Niland, who was hospitalized after a fire at his Centerville home.

The fund, called Chris Niland New Home Collection, has raised $550 since it was set up the day after the fire, Dec. 19. 

The organizer set a goal to raise $1,000 for Niland, a 1981 graduate of Hingham High School.

Erin C. Healy wrote the following on the GoFundMe page:

On Wednesday night, Dec. 18, our Hingham High School Class of '81 friend Chris Niland was burned out of a home he was renting in Centerville, Barnstable, Cape Cod. He escaped safely and was treated for smoke inhalation at Cape Cod Hospital. Here is the Cape Cod times news clip on the incident: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131218/NEWS11/131219693/-1/NEWS11

A friend was on hand to pick him up on discharge from the hospital and drive him to the home so he could get his vehicle. Fortunately, his phone charger is in the truck. The Red Cross provided him with money for food, a change of clothes and four days at a Comfort Inn. He has been hooked up with the Cape Cod Times Needy Fund and the Housing Assistance Corporation Cape Cod. He will need food, clothes, lodging and everything that goes into setting up house again. He does not like to ask for help, but he is grateful for every positive that comes his way.