LAWRENCE - The fire that devastated a city block of mostly multifamily buildings last week really hit home for Paul Reddick.

Reddick owns Lawrence Pumps Inc., across the street from the fire scene, and his company donated three buildings being renovated by Habitat for Humanity, which were destroyed in the blaze. Two of the buildings were two-family and the third a single-family. Three families were near to moving into the houses.

"It's heartbreaking to see those people, who were ready to move in, have their homes burn," he said yesterday.

About two dozen families were driven from their homes in the fire.

At an employee meeting last Tuesday, Reddick announced the company would make a $15,000 donation to the American Red Cross to help the homeless. Lawrence Pump's 130 employees then raised another $5,000, which the company matched for a total of $25,000.

Lawrence Pumps donated the properties to Habitat for Humanity on December 2004. It had owned the homes for more than a decade.

"These folks are our neighbors and we want to help them," Reddick said. "I'm very proud of our employees' willingness to step up to the plate." Founded in 1936, Lawrence Pumps Inc. manufactures pumps used for chemical processing, refineries, power plants, petrochemicals, and municipal waste. Pumps made in Lawrence are exported to Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

The engineers, machinists, assemblers and sales people at Lawrence Pumps have not been the only ones digging deep into their pockets to help families left homeless by the fire.

Members of the National Honor Society at Methuen High School collected $750 from fellow students during their lunch periods.

"We raised a lot for the hurricane (Katrina) victims, but this one was closer to home and affected more people directly," said Liz Maccarone, 17, whose father is a Lawrence firefighter.

Yesterday, Lowell Mayor Edward "Bud" Caulfield, along with City Councilor Rita Mercier and Department of Public Work employees John Patenaude, Ed Patenaude and Dave Belanger drove to Lawrence in a truck filled with bags of clothing.

They brought the donations to Saunders School, which was received by Isabel Melendez, executive director of the Spanish Program for the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council.

Meanwhile, area Episcopal ministers are seeking donations of gift cards from home improvement stores to purchase construction materials to use when construction on the Habitat for Humanity projects begin again.

During their monthly clergy meeting last week, they also said skilled craftsmen, framers, carpenters, painters, roofers, plumbers and electricians are needed to volunteer their time to rebuild the homes.

Habitat for Humanity also is looking for experts in insurance claims and professionals in the demolition and hazardous materials fields to advise them, as well as engineers and architects to draw up new plans for the buildings.

Larry Sharpe, executive director of the Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity, said it could take one and a half to two years to rebuild the homes on Market Street.

Sharpe said Habitat for Humanity is trying to finish a duplex on Gale Street in which to move two of the families displaced by the fire.