A woman who lost three family members in a fire in 2008 continues to pay forward the help she got then. In fact, helping others is her job.
Billi Jo Baneck lost her mother, father, and brother in a fire at their Wautoma home when she was 24 years old. She was left to care for her 16-year-old sister. Baneck spoke to a women's group in Appleton about how she was able to move forward.
"What really compelled me to bring her on as a speaker is how she was handling that and how she was so grateful to the people that reached out to her," said Mary Ann Bazile, the Mid-Day Women's Alliance Vice President of programs.
Baneck works as a full time 9-11 dispatcher. She said that she was in training in December 2008 when she got the call at 2:00 in the morning. Her mother's friend told her to go to the hospital. That's where she'd learned what happened.
"My mom, dad, and youngest brother Charlie didn't make it out of the house," said Baneck.
Two other siblings at the house were OK. Less than a month later, she returned to work.
Her job allows her to help others. She's on the other line when someone calls 9-1-1. It’s also a job that helps her. It kept her busy and distracted from her pain, although that can never be erased.
"To go through those life experiences every single time and know that they're not there to see them to experience them, to never meet their grand children, those are things that you wish they were here for, but someone's got to move forward for them," said Baneck.
For someone who takes calls for a living, it was a more random call that struck Baneck. That's what an audience member remembers most.
"It was somebody she wasn't close to that called her after the fact and simply said 'Hi, how are you doing?', " said Mid Day Women's Alliance member Barb Sexmith. "That was the person she could cry and let it all out with."
Baneck said after the fire the whole town helped her. Farmers took care of her father's corn on their farm. Local restaurants fed those farmers and the Red Cross helped financially.
She pays it forward today by volunteering for the Red Cross, the same organization that was there for her when she was the one in need.
