She lost it all in a fire. Now, the people of Key West are building her a new home

Two years ago, 75-year-old Alelia Butler lost everything after a fire tore through her mobile home in Key West.

In the middle of the night, on Jan. 29, 2019, Butler said she lit a candle and fell asleep. She awoke to fire and smoke in her Galveston Lane home.

“By the grace of God,” she said, when asked how she made it out.

“It was fire in front of me, smoke on the side of me,” Butler said. “I got to the door and got out. I know that it was not my time. God just led me right out of that trailer without me being able to see.”

Butler owns the property but she had no insurance.

In response, locals have come to her rescue. And they’re going beyond the call of duty .

They’re giving her a new home.

People organized, reached out to contractors and have been raising money to finish a yellow two-bedroom house in the same footprint where the mobile home sat.

Key West Fire Department Capt. Jason Barroso is leading the way, but calls it a team effort and praises the companies and contractors involved in the project. Some have donated services.

“People have been answering the call along the way,” Barroso said. “We need to raise funds to pay for the materials that were installed and still need to be installed. We’re relying on the help of the community members.”

A few examples of the big-hearted giving: Someone sponsored the building of the roof. A glass company donated all the windows. A plumber did work for free. A sprinkler system was donated, too.

“It takes a whole community, a whole family to accomplish it,” Barroso said. ”She’s been so gracious. To watch her go through so much hardship and still have peace. It’s been incredible to help her.

The Manley deBoer building supply company, which has locations in Key West and on Big Pine Key, is collecting donations to the “813 Galveston Lane” account, and people can drop by to make a contribution. The family also has a GoFundMe account.

The pandemic has posed challenges for construction.

“Everybody’s going through a difficult time right now,” Barroso said. “Contractors have deadlines of their own and they have their own families and they’ve taken time away from all that to do something for Ms. Butler. Something that was a tragedy is now so beautiful. Everybody cares for Ms. Butler.”

Barroso spent the morning of the fire with Butler.

“We became very, very close,” Barroso said. “She lost everything.”

In the end, the home will cost between $100,000 and $150,000. Barroso said this type of home would usually cost at least $500,000 to build in Key West.

Butler is filled with gratitude.

“I humble myself to everyone that has been a part of it,” she said. “I would not have even thought or dreamed about all of this happening. Never.

“It’s gorgeous and I can’t wait to get into it.”

She lost her home, along with a lifetime’s worth of possessions. But she still has the property, which had been her father’s.

“My father had that and when he died that was left to me,” she said. “In my going and coming home, that was always my home whenever I came home to live here.”

Key West has a reputation as a hard-partying town. But at its heart, it’s a small town of about 25,000 where people look out for each other. Housing is expensive, and even those with money have a hard time finding rentals.

The rebuilding is an example of Key Westers matching despair with hope.

“It’s the way it would have been done years ago,” said City Commissioner Clayton Lopez of the project. “Although it’s the exception to the rule today, years ago it would have been the rule.”

Lopez said, “There’s a much bigger part to Key West that is about generational relationships. In that alley, a lot of that still exists. Even with some of the old families having moved away, some of the newer neighbors are embracing the lifestyle and that means a lot.”

Butler said, “When you need them, they show up. And some of them might not even know you but just the idea of them wanting to help and be a part of something that is positive, that’s a blessing. I’m so thankful to be a part of it.”

Born in the Bahamas, Butler’s family moved to Key West when she was 5. Her mother was a seamstress and her father did deliveries for Fausto’s grocery.

After graduating high school, Butler moved to Los Angeles, where she spent 15 years.

“Worked different jobs, trying to live and survive,” she said.

But Key West has always been her true home. And she eventually returned.

“I lived away and then I came back home,” she said seated outside her friend’s apartment, where she has been staying for almost two years. “I’ve been back home for almost 40 years.”

Butler, who has two sons, Derek Butler and Calvin Butler, retired as a pre-kindergarten teacher in Key West.



Butler could follow so many others and sell and make a bundle. A two-bedroom home nearby on Olivia Street is going for $1.1 million.

“I don’t want to,” she said. “There’s not enough money to do that. I’ve had so many people coming to me wanting to buy and I’ve had good offers, plenty, plenty offers. But I love living in Key West. That’s why.

“God saved me for a reason.”