Max Faircloth (Pastor Faircloth, Max’s Grandfather pictured above), a first-year member of Edge Athletics playing on our 16U team, and his family were recently involved in two tragedies only days apart.

On Thursday morning, April 10, Monroe Faicloth, uncle of Max, was involved in a head-on collision while driving to work on Route 9W in the Town of Newburgh. Monroe was taken to St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital and later transferred to Westchester Medical Center with potentially life-threatening injuries. Monroe remains in critical condition.

While Max and the rest of his immediate family were bedside with Monroe Faircloth at Westchester Medical Center on the morning of Saturday, April 12, the family received a report that their house in Milton was destroyed by a fire. Firefighters arrived on the scene minutes after being notified that there was a fire only to see the entire house engulfed by flames. Unfortunately, the house and everything in it was destroyed. Nothing could be salvaged. Eight members of the Faircloth family, including Max, resided at the house.

Early reports indicate that lightning may have caused the fire. However, an investiagtion is currently ongoing.

The entire Edge Athletics Community asks that you keep the Faircloth family in your thoughts and prayers during this unexplicably difficult time.

Anyone wishing to donate money to the Faircloths should send contributions to 14 Clarks Lane, Milton, NY 12547. Checks should be made out to the Faircloth family.

Finally, a copy of the article that appeared in Tuesday’s edition of the Poughkeepsie Journal that includes more details can be found below.

Coach Hayes

Pastor’s Son Hurt in Crash; Home Razed by Fire
Family was Visiting at Hospital when Blaze Began
By Lindsay Suchow • Poughkeepsie Journal • April 15, 2008

MILTON - Members of the Faircloth family are asking the public for help after their home was destroyed by a fire early Saturday morning.

To make matters worse for homeowners, the Rev. Max and Ruth Faircloth, their son, Monroe Faircloth, is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries following a head-on collision Thursday.

Max Faircloth is the pastor of the Faith Missionary Church of God in Saint James Chapel in Hyde Park.

Lt. Michael Clancy of Newburgh town police said Monroe, 31, and a passenger, Jorge Manzanarez, were traveling north on Route 9W in the Town of Newburgh at 6:50 a.m. when his Saab crossed over the double-yellow line. Faircloth, who was not wearing his seat belt, collided head-on with a small dump truck owned by Ricetta Construction of Highland, Clancy said.

Vicki Lee, a member of the Faircloths’ family, said Monroe was on his way to work when the accident occurred.

Monroe was taken to Saint Luke’s Cornwall Hospital and transferred to Westchester Medical Center with potentially life-threatening injuries, Clancy said. As of today, he remains in critical condition at the hospital’s trauma intensive care unit, according to a spokesperson.

Hopeful Signs Noted
“He had some movement, which hopefully demonstrates that his brain is functioning,” the Rev. Max Faircloth said. “His wife asked him to blink if he could hear her, and he blinked. So hopefully this is a true sign.”

Max Faircloth said the whole family has been staying at the hospital for several days, not wanting to leave Monroe’s side.

“Nobody wants to leave,” Max Faircloth said. “We’re taking it one step at a time.”

Manzanarez was taken to Saint Luke’s with minor injuries. He was wearing his seat belt, Clancy said. The driver of the truck refused medical treatment.

There are no tickets issued in the crash, but Clancy said an investigation indicated Monroe was at fault and police planned to ticket him for driving left of a double-yellow line and not wearing a seat belt.

Witnesses said Monroe was in a “slumped” position at the wheel just before he crossed the double-yellow line, Clancy said.

While the Faircloth family was at the hospital with Monroe on Saturday morning, their Clarks Lane home was destroyed by a fire, Milton fire Chief Stephen Kneeter said.

At 5:18 a.m., the Milton Fire Department received a report of a structure fire, Kneeter said. Firefighters arrived about three minutes later to find the house completely engulfed, Kneeter said.

Kneeter said the house, and everything inside, could not be salvaged.

“They lost everything in the house,” Kneeter said. “It was a total loss.”

While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, the neighbor who reported the fire said he heard a loud “bang” outside and looked out the window to see the Faircloths’ home burning, Kneeter said.

The fire started during a “severe lightning storm,” which led Kneeter to believe the fire may have started after lightning struck the house.

While responding to the fire, Kneeter said there were two vehicles in the driveway registered to members of the household, leading firefighters to believe there may have been victims inside the home.

It took two hours for fire officials to verify the whereabouts of the family, discovering from a relative that the family was at the hospital with Monroe.

“It was mind-boggling for the first two-to-three hours” when firefighters thought there were victims, Kneeter said.

No One Was At Home
No one was in the house at the time of the fire and there were no injuries, Kneeter said.

All eight members of the household - Max and Ruth Faircloth; their sons Monroe and Max; Monroe’s wife, Rosa, and daughter, Torina; and the younger Max’s two sons, Maxxwell and Marsallis - will receive assistance from Red Cross when they arrive back in Ulster County, Kneeter said.

“Right now, (Max and Ruth) are concentrating on their son,” Kneeter said. “When they do come back up here, Red Cross is going to assist them with housing.”

Lee, who is a grandmother to Maxx and Marsallis, said the family needs help with the costs associated with both tragedies.

“Ruth is always giving, always serving whoever crosses her path who might need help,” Lee said. “Now, she is in need.”

Having a tendency toward generosity apparently was passed on to Monroe, the Rev. Max Faircloth said.

“He’s such a unique young man,” the Rev. Max Faircloth said. “He helps everyone he comes into contact with.”

Lee said Maxx and Marsallis are “excellent students” in the Marlboro school district and are also avid basketball and softball players.

“(The Faircloths) are always giving, so it’s very strange for them to be on the receiving end,” Lee said. “It’s almost too much to comprehend.”