{"id":388713,"date":"2026-09-02T22:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T22:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/388713\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T22:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T22:52:21","slug":"mandarin-family-begins-healing-after-devastating-house-fire-and-the-outpouring-of-support-hasnt-stopped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/388713\/","title":{"rendered":"Mandarin family begins healing after devastating house fire, and the outpouring of support hasn\u2019t stopped"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A week ago, the Manati family\u2019s lives were changed forever.<\/p>\n

RELATED: A devastating Mandarin house fire took three children. Now the community is rallying behind the family<\/a><\/p>\n

Firefighters responded to a home off Windergate Drive near Old St. Augustine Road just after 5 a.m., arriving to find heavy fire on the first floor and heavy smoke on the second.<\/p>\n

Two adults had already escaped with two children before crews arrived, but three children did not make it out.<\/p>\n

10-year-old twins Damiano and Gabriel and 2-year-old Amel Manati were killed.<\/p>\n

A cousin of the family spoke to News4JAX and shared the children\u2019s obituaries, a heartbreaking reminder of the young lives taken far too soon.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Loved ones say 10-year-old twins, 2-year-old died in Mandarin House fire, ask community for support amid tragedy<\/a><\/p>\n

The surviving family members have since been discharged from the hospital and are now recovering.<\/p>\n

Neighbors have left flowers and gifts outside the home, a simple but powerful show of support for a family navigating unimaginable grief.<\/p>\n

And the outpouring extends far beyond the neighborhood. <\/p>\n

The family\u2019s GoFundMe<\/a> has surpassed $280,000 in donations, more than double what was reported just days ago.<\/p>\n

Support is also coming from the place where the children\u2019s father, Genti Manati, worked. <\/p>\n

The San Jose Country Club says Genti was an extremely hardworking family man, and they are determined to help his family in any way they can.<\/p>\n

General Manager Stephen Whitson says Genti\u2019s first instinct, even after tragedy, was to think of others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I called him and tried to talk to him, he\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m sorry I missed work.\u2019 I\u2019m like, he shouldn\u2019t even say that. But he\u2019s just a really, really hardworking guy. I think he was the only one working in his family and taking care of five kids. All he talked about was his kids,\u201d Whitson said. \u201cHe\u2019s been here for about three years. Great guy. Always the hardest-working guy in the kitchen. We\u2019ve loved having him here. And we\u2019re devastated about what happened,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

RELATED: 3 children killed in Mandarin house fire; Bystanders help catch baby, adult thrown from 2nd story window, neighbor says<\/a><\/p>\n

The country club has a fund called the Lion\u2019s Den Foundation, designed to help employees through scholarships and times of need.<\/p>\n

After the fire, management says they immediately sent financial advisors to the family and began reaching out to Habitat for Humanity in hopes of helping with future housing.<\/p>\n

The door, Whitson says, is always open if Genti is ready to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to have him back. That\u2019s going to be up to him and the family. And obviously there\u2019s going to be some time for healing, and we want to make sure that he\u2019s taken care of during that time,\u201d Whitson said.<\/p>\n

The State Fire Marshal\u2019s Office and the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office Homicide Unit are still investigating the cause of the fire.<\/p>\n

No cause has been determined at this time.<\/p>\n

Due to overwhelming support, the family has set up an additional way to donate directly. Monetary donations can be placed in an envelope and dropped off at:<\/p>\n

6260 Dupont Station Court, Suite A Jacksonville, FL 32217<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A week ago, the Manati family\u2019s lives were changed forever. RELATED: A devastating Mandarin house…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-388713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}