A Mississippi community is rallying around a long-time city employee whose home of a long-time city employee was destroyed by fire on Christmas Eve morning.

Natchez Fire Chief Robert Arrington said his department received a call reporting a fire at 213 George F. West St. in Natchez at about 6:45 a.m. on Christmas Eve.

“It was pretty involved when we got there,” Arrington said. “We do not yet know the cause of the fire. That is still under investigation.”

Michael Jackson, who has worked for the city’s Public Works Department for 16 years, lived in the home. Jackson was also a long-time carrier for The Natchez Democrat and still operates as an independent contractor for the newspaper, delivering newspapers to stores and racks in Louisiana. He was unavailable for comment this evening.

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson has established a donation box to help Jackson, who lost everything in the fire, Gibson said. The box is located at Station 1, 800 Main St.

“We are accepting donations of food, clothing and household items,” Arrington said.

“Michael Jackson is the best guy. He is quiet and hard working. We are so sad that this happened to him today of all days. He has lived in this house for more than 30 years and lost everything.

Jackson was unavailable for comment this evening.

Gibson said Jackson’s clothing sizes and 36×34 pants, 2XL shirts and size 13 shoes.

Gibson also established a GoFundMe account for Jackson. You can find that site by going to https://www.gofundme.com/f/thejacksonhome.