By Yasmine Peru – STAR Writer—

Christopher Ellis—

Christopher Ellis, son of late reggae singer Alton Ellis, was spurred into action two months ago when he was visiting relatives in Trench Town and a fire started at a house on Fifth Street.

Not only did he assist in putting out the fire, he also quickly organized a 24-hour online fundraiser for the devastated homeowner.

Ellis, a singer who lives in England, had a goal of $100,000, of which he promised to donate half. However, his social media appeal was so successful that he was able to hand over $308,000 to the lady, named Crystal.

As Ellis recalled, he was at his sister-in-law’s house when his nephew ran inside and started shouting, “Fire! Fire!” They grabbed buckets and rushed to the house, where he saw that a few of his nephew’s friends were already throwing water on the fire. The homeowner was at work.

“While this was happening, the lady who owned the house came and she just fell to the ground. She was crying hysterically, and so was her daughter. She arrived like a minute before the fire engine. The following day, I went back and it was just sad. She had lost everything. So I started to wonder how I could be of help,” Ellis said.

He devised a plan to video himself at the burnt-out building, telling the story of what happened and asked his followers for help.

“I posted the video to social media and the response was insane. I was up all night responding to persons who wanted to help. People were sending PS20, PS50 … one guy even sent US$300. I didn’t want to stretch it out for too long, so I stopped it after 24 hours, and we had surpassed our goal,” he told THE STAR.

After gathering up all the donations, Trench Town residents, Kino and the Dream Team were on hand to film the handover of the money to Crystal, who valiantly fought back the tears.

“She has already started to rebuild, and the place looks different already,” said Eliis, who is signed to Damian Marley’s Ghetto Youths International label.

Ellis, who is in Jamaica recording new music, is happy that he was “in the right place at the right time”.