Amy has been coping with the loss of her home and she is amazed by the overwhelming community support.

"My family learned how close our community is and how everyone will drop everything if a tragedy happens to anyone," Amy said. "I realized there are a lot of things you don't need, but want. I realized how much my family means to me and how much worse it would have been if someone would have been in there."

But through it all, basketball, along with her teammates, have been the one constant and stabilizing force to help Amy through the tragedy. In fact, on the night she found out her house burned, Feb. 17, Jorgenson lit up the basketball court, scoring a game-high 26 points and leading the Redbirds to a 56-38 win over Riverdale.

"The whole community and town helped me out so much," she said. "I wanted to play for them. Basketball means a lot to me."

The fire that destroyed Duane and Liz Jorgenson's house at County D south of Lamont started in the chimney. It was a total loss. The shell of the house still remains.

"You can't replace a son, daughter or wife," Duane said. "You can replace wood shingles. You can find another place to live. You can build another place to live."

Duane, an attorney who does legal work for the Lafayette County Human Services Department, was in a conference the morning of the fire. He heard a fire alarm go off at 11:50 a.m. He questioned whether there was a fire because the daily siren doesn't go off until noon. He found out his house was on fire from a Veterans Affairs officer who had a scanner on.

"I just kind of froze," Duane said. "I recognized right away it was my house."

After taking a speech quiz the same day, Amy was called to the office along with brother Matt where their mother Liz informed them that their house was on fire.

The Jorgenson family went to their burning house. Several friends also turned out in support.

Amy lost cross country and track medals in the fire. As a result, the Darlington cross country team is raising money to replace them. The girls basketball team also raised money to donate clothes to Amy.

"It means a lot," Amy said. "It's not like awards are everything. Every time you get a medal it's a reward because of the hard work you put in."

Darlington girls basketball coach Mike Chambers said Amy just wants to focus on playing basketball.

"It was a rallying point for us," Chambers said. "It kind of put basketball on the back shelf a little bit. It was a point where we felt like we had to help a teammate.

"She's our point guard and leader on the court. As she goes, we go. It's been pretty amazing some of the numbers she has been able to put up."

While in the in fifth through eighth grades, Amy played on a traveling basketball team with several Monroe players including Molly Hlubek, Brooke McBain, Ashley Segner and Chelsea Haffele. A couple days after the fire, when the Jorgensons were seeing what they could salvage, Amy's former coach Mike Hlubek along with Molly Hlubek, McBain, Segner and Haffele came to the scene to support the Jorgensons.

"It made me feel normal just seeing your friends," Amy said. The Jorgenson family was able to salvage a few remnants from their house.

"Everyone who has helped us the last couple of weeks really reminds us of how fortunate we are to live in this community," Duane said. "It's amazing. It's been nothing short of remarkable."

"When the time is right the school and community will be there for the Jorgenson family," Darlington High School Principal Doug McArthur said. "We will be there to help the family with this tragedy."

McArthur said the school will have several drives of support, but they are waiting for the family to assess what their needs are after the tragedy. The teachers at the high school have a potluck once a month to raise funds for various community organizations. McArthur said the funds raised from the potluck on Wednesday will go to the Jorgenson family.

The Darlington student council planned to do something in support of the Jorgensons. Despite the loss of her house, Amy, who is on the student council, is reluctant to seek or request help.

"I don't want to ask for it," she said. "I feel like it could go to someone who needs it more than me."

The Jorgensons have moved into a farmhouse on a dairy farm with friends just north of Wiota as they sort through the aftermath of the fire.

"I think my wife and I are looking to rebuild on that site," Duane said. "We love our neighbors."