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Kent County veteran loses most belongings in Walker apartment fire

Jodi Martinez spent four years in the Air Force. Along with all of her belongings, Jodi lost her military uniforms and her third-year ArtPrize entry.

WALKER, Mich. — An Easter night fire has displaced some tenants at the Orchards Apartments on Four Mile Road in Walker.

Jodi Martinez has lived there for 13 years, but now she's living in a hotel.

"Just this very small amount of fire and we were actually trying to put it out and my son got the fire extinguisher and used the whole thing up," said Jodi. "Started traveling up into the side of the wall and once that happened, we pretty much knew it was it was gone."

Jodi was able to get her son and cat out of the apartment safely, however, they were only able to leave with the clothes they had on.

Everything else, she believes, is gone.

"My baby pictures, my kids baby pictures," said Jodi. "All my military stuff. I'm on the Kent County Veterans Honor Guard, all of my uniforms and everything for doing funerals."

Jodi, who is an ArtPrize artist, lost the piece she was working on for this year's competition.

"My ArtPrize piece is gone," said Jodi. "I was working on that to get that ready for this year."

Called Quilling, Jodi uses paper to make unique designs that she showcases during ArtPrize at Veterans Memorial Park.

While her art is gone, she is hoping for a comeback of sorts.

"I'm so hoping that I can be in it," said Jodi. "I might just have to scale my piece back a little bit and not quite so ambitious is what I was thinking. Because I mean, that would be a nice distraction. Once I finally get things a little more situated."

While she works to get back on her feet, she says she's felt nothing but love from her community through these difficult times.

"It's tremendous," said Jodi. "I mean, it's the love and support. Everything is what's keeping me going right now."

A friend of Jodi's started a GoFundMe for her. You can find that link here.

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