CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Fire destroyed a West Pullman church and food pantry two weeks ago, and the church's pastor is asking for financial help and volunteers.
The fire at the Sanctuary Church on West 120th Street started not long after Sunday services on March 31.
The fire department blamed a faulty electrical cord for the fire that Bishop Virgil Jones says destroyed the main church level and the basement food pantry below, which serves more than 1,800 people every month.
"We had seven freezers and refrigerators that we lost. Just today we got rid of about $1,500 worth of meats, chicken and hamburgers, things like that … That was heartbreaking for me to see that big waste."
Bishop Jones said he was advised to throw it all away because of smoke damage.
The church and pantry had no insurance, he said. In fact, it couldn't get an insurance renewal after a winter storm blew off a porch -- a porch that Jones says they planned to repair this spring.
Then came the fire.
Bishop Jones estimates the damage at $60,000.
