RIVER FALLS — After coming home from football practice April 6, the Walker family discovered a small kitchen fire in their home caused by a package of scissors left on a burner that was accidentally turned on. While the fire caused limited damage, the family could not spend the night in the home.

At about 1:30 a.m. April 7, with the family staying with their relatives out of town, they received a call from the neighbors that their barn was on fire.

The family farm off County Road M had completely lost the barn, two Great Pyrenees dogs Remi and Ruger, Corgi Izzy, hundreds of chickens and ducks, a pony and at least one barn cat.

Surviving the fire were Winnie the Great Pyrenees as well as a pair of barn cats and a chicken that were later found.

The family has been living with relatives in Woodbury in the meantime, and Winnie has been helping them cope with the loss.

“She’s trying to show our younger kiddos that resilience. Moving forward, it’s just been great for a big, fluffy cuddle,” Steffanie Walker said. “She’s definitely changed from this too.”

Walker joked that her mother-in-law previously never let animals in the house, but Winnie has gotten the pass since the fire.

Since the incident, community members have taken to the farm to help clean up debris. There was also a fundraiser started at https://gofund.me/5625e623a that is approaching $60,000 raised as of April 12.

“The Walkers have always been a pillar of support in our community, giving generously and helping others whenever they could. Now, as they face this devastating loss, they must also close their farm store for the next several days to grieve and begin the long process of rebuilding. Donations will be used to support the Walker family during this time of need and help them recover from the tragedy,” the GoFundMe page states.

The Walkers have been overwhelmed by the communal support since the fire and are thankful to anyone that has reached out or helped in any way.

“A mass amount of appreciation for this community, for everyone, for anything. The well-wishes, the stops, the hugs, especially the donations that have come in, we can’t even comprehend it. How could we ever say thank you enough to everyone,” Walker said.

Walker said the family feels they do as any other farmer would, so to see the impact they have had on the community has been special. An article put out by KARE 11 was one that Walker felt encapsulated the feelings of the family well.

“I feel like we don’t really do anything special other than what most people do. We just try and run the store and give people healthy options for food,” Walker said. “When we have extras of things, we just share it with the community when we can.”

There will be a memorial on the farm Thursday, April 16 at 3 p.m. that is open to the entire community. There will be river rock decorating, weather permitting, where people can bring their own rocks or be provided a rock to write a message to be laid on the site of the lost animals.

“The realization of how much this impacted us and our kids, and our close family, but to realize the impact it made on the community or the neighbor kids. We had bus drivers saying that they were taking alternate routes so [the students] didn’t have to see the barn,” Walker said. “We’ve heard of friends’ kids having to go to the guidance counselors because they’re crying in class. Gosh, you realize the impact. I thought it was important not only for our family, but for everyone that had come to visit.”

The dogs have especially had an impact on some of the kids in the community, so the Walkers want to give people a chance to come to the farm and relive their memories with them.

“That’s what has impacted the community probably the most. The dogs were kind of the sentinels of the farm, it seemed like. Kids would come out and lay with them in the front yards and pet them,” Walker said. “Any time kids wanted to come out and play and look at the animals, we were open for them.”

The memorial will serve as closure for the family and community, but also the beginning of the rebuilding process.

“As farmers, we’re not used to saying, ‘Yes, come help me,’” Walker said. “We will rebuild. We will get there slowly. As we keep telling my six-year-old, we never give up. We’re not giving up. Our friends aren’t giving up, so we aren’t.”