Riverside Middle School comes together to help student who lost everything in fire

EL PASO, Texas -- Lending a helping hand. That's what one El Paso middle school did as it rallied behind one of its own.

7th grader at Riverside Middle School, Aiden Gomez and his family lost everything within a matter of minutes in a fire on March 6.

An electrical failure caused a fire to erupt in the back of his lower valley home. Aiden was the first to notice the smoke in the house. He, his grandma and another family member, made it out with only the clothes on their backs.

His grandmother, Maria Gomez, told ABC-7 Aiden was able to keep his composure and help get the family out.

After finding out about the fire, Principal of Riverside Daniel Medina knew something needed to be done to help.

"We quickly mobilized, we quickly sent out messages and created flyers on social media and just tried to help the family it's been a tough time already," Medina said.

Within 24 hours, clothes, food, and funds of up to $1,000 were raised by several schools within the Riverside feeder pattern, including students, staff, alumni, and other Ysleta ISD community members.

"Having somebody, one of your family members, go through something like this, we wanted to just provide support, make sure that they're cared for and make sure that their love during this hard time," Medina said.

Aiden told ABC-7 he and his family are grateful for what the community has done for his family.

If you would like to help the family, click here to donate to the family's GoFundMe page.