Vicksburg Business Owner Loses Home in Thanksgiving Fire, Family Launches GoFundMe

VICKSBURG, Miss. – Lucy Martinez, owner of the Wok in the Vicksburg Mall, lost her home to a fire on Thanksgiving Day. Martinez’s son, Alex Martinez, and her daughter-in-law, Joseigh Nappier, have created a GoFundMe for her to try and help rebuild. They have currently raised over $2k of the $25k goal.

On the morning of Thanksgiving day, Lucy’s son, Alex, woke up with extreme abdominal pain, and after an Emergency room visit, he was rushed to Jackson for emergency gallbladder surgery. It was then that they received the call about the house. According to the family, the fire started due to an electrical wiring issue with the stove.

Alex’s wife, Joesigh, and their two children were at the house at the time.

“My sister and my niece were also in the house when the fire started,” said Alex. “My wife tried stopping the fire by spraying it with a fire extinguisher, but in the end she couldn’t, and the police officer had to get her out the house.”

Since the fire on Thanksgiving day, Martinez has been staying at a hotel, with the insurance company declaring the house a loss.

“The insurance called it a loss since the fire department had to climb onto the roof and spray from the attic down. It filled the whole house up with water so they said they’d help her with everything the fire burned down but they don’t think they’ll be able to help with the water damage,” said Alex. “At the moment they boarded up the windows and door to the house.”

Alex said he wanted to surprise his mother with the money, but his aunt had already told her about it.

“My aunt told her about it yesterday. I was going to try to surprise her with the money, but regardless I just wanted her to have something good happen to her for once,” said Alex. “She’s been dealt a lot of bad hands in life.”

The Wok was opened in 1996 by Lucy’s then husband, Jesus Martinez, and after their divorce around 2014, has been handling the day-to-day operations.

“She started officially working at the Wok in 1998. She’s been working at the Wok for as long as I can remember, and I’m currently 28,” said Alex.