When Gary Vaughn heard of this past weekend's fire in Berlin, it didn't take him long to decide to step up and help out, especially when he can relate to what the victims are going through right now.

Gary Vaughn owns Gary's Steals and Deals in Somerset. It's a place to buy, sell, and trade electronics, CDs and more. When Gary heard of this past weekend's fire in Berlin, leaving 20 people homeless, he decided to use his shop to help those in need.

On Friday, Gary is giving $1000 to the Berlin Alliance Church where a relief fund has been set up. On top of that, Gary vows to give the fund 25% of his total sales from Monday through Saturday of next weeka total he believes could reach another thousand dollars.

Gary says, They've been great to me and I do pull a lot of customers from Berlin so I figured I'd extend my thanks to customers and potential customers.

Being a kind-hearted person isn't Gary's only motivation for the donations. The Berlin fire reminded Gary of a tougher time in his life about five years ago when his home burned to the ground. It was a total loss.

I sat there and watched my house burn and realized the next day my possessions were diminished to the clothes that I had on. I mean I had to go out and buy everything again.

Now Gary has rebuilt and moved onsomething he hopes to help the fire victims do with their lives. Part of the relief fund for the Berlin fire victims is now being used to help relocate them to new homes and help pay for their security deposits and first months rent.